The Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event on April 16 at Coolidge Park will give men the chance to literally put themselves in a pair of women’s shoes. They will do this to protest rape, sexual assault and gender violence while raising funds to benefit the Partnership for Families, Children and Adult’s Sexual Assault Center. The center provides violence prevention efforts and rape services in the Greater Chattanooga community.
Each year the partnership provides crisis intervention services, emergency hotlines, counseling, shelter, advocacy, and referral services to more than 3,000 individuals and families in our community. Many of these services are staffed 24 hours a day and are prepared to assist a client or victim in a moment’s notice. Three hundred individuals received services at the sexual assault center last year alone.
The Sexual Assault Center opened in 1995 and is the only rape center in Chattanooga for victims, ages 13 and older. Victims are eligible to receive a wide array of free and confidential services at the center including a forensic exam to document the assault and provide evidence for prosecution, counseling and support, court advocacy, and even support services for family members struggling with the trauma.
Amy Russell, the nursing manager at the sexual assault center, helped 90 victims through
forensic examinations last year that included sexual transmitted infection evaluation and care.
One out of six American women has been a victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime, and victims such as these are three times more likely to suffer from depression, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and four times more likely to contemplate suicide.
The Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event works to remove the shame and self-blame that victims encounter and provide a public outpouring of support in a manner that is partially serious and partially silly.
Holly Ashley, the communications manager of the Partnership, says this international event was taken on by the city last year and was an instant success with over 200 people attending, raising $4,000 in funds.
“I think we touched a lot of hearts last year and a lot of men stood up against rape and against sexual violence,” she says. “This year we are hoping to more than double the numbers, get more people out into the park, let them understand that rape is a serious issue and see all the community players involved to help stop sexual violence against women.”
Police Chief Jimmy Dodd is the co-chair of the event and will be alongside the men in trying to survive a mile long walk in high heels.
“I’m going to go for a lower platform if I can,” he says, with a laugh.
Being in law enforcement for 25 years, Dodd has been around a lot of criminal investigations involving rape, and he understands the need to have a single place a victim can go for police assistance, medical attention, counseling and support that the Sexual Assault Center provides.
Dodd also notes that last year, of the 2,000 calls for service they had, they were able to keep the crime rate down to a double-digit deficit through luck and hard work. The only part-one crime that was elevated in numbers last year was rape, moving from 39 cases reported in 2009 to 53 reported in 2010. Whether this was because victims are more aware of their options and feel more comfortable coming forward, Dodd says he doesn’t know. And although he is not happy about the increase in numbers, if this means more victims are coming forward and getting help, he is glad about that.
“The purpose of the center is a secret thing that isn’t discussed out in the open for the victim’s sake, but a lot of times when you deal with a situation like this and everything is so secretive, the victims feel like they have done something wrong, or something they should be ashamed of,” Dodd says. We want to be up front and open in public about it to say it’s not your fault, and we are here to help you with it.”
Ashley says this year’s event is off to a great start already with an out of town contribution to support a woman walker of $2,500 and several men who are getting creative with their walk to raise support and funds.
One of these is Craig Lawson, the husband of Noel Lawson, a sexual assault nurse examiner at the center, who has promised to wax his legs before he puts on the red heels if he raises $2,000 for his walk. Lawson raised $1,500 during last year’s event and walked a mile in heels that were no longer good after he was done with them, he says.
Through lending an ear to his wife when she comes home from the Sexual Assault Center, Lawson says, he has learned that even in 2011, sexual assault is not publicized or spoken of in open conversation in our society.
“I believe that women who are victims of this type of activity need a center to go to, a private place where they can go and have an exam completed to collect the vital evidence to hopefully put away their attacker in prison and also have a kind ear to listen to what has happened to them, in a place that’s not a hospital, that’s not a public gathering place,” he says.
He says he looks at the event from his children’s viewpoint: “I want them to take away from it that dad and other guys are willing to do whatever it takes: to walk a mile in red high heels, to be silly, to draw attention to themselves, to fall down, to carry signs. We are willing to do whatever it takes to draw attention to this, and hopefully people will see us and ask questions. Hopefully people will read the article and speak up and say not enough attention is being given to this horrible event that these women live through and have to continue to live with,” Lawson says.
Lawson calls those who work at the Sexual Assault Center heroes because they don’t get any attention for their work, don’t seek it, and their work is pure community service that not many people know about.
“Come out to the event, participate. If you don’t know any one walking in the event, donate that day, ask a question and don’t make these women live in the shadows of what has taken place to them,” Lawson says.
Ashley says, “I feel it’s important to do this in such a public setting in a non-traditional way that captures people’s attention simply just to raise more awareness that there is a rape crisis center and there is help out there. It’s great to have Chief Dodd’s support because women who may have been victimized see that the police department is behind them and they can get help there. I think it lets the community know that there is more support out there than they may have thought before.”
To register to walk in the event, support a walk or for more information, visit www.walkamilechatt.com.