Photo by Shadell Bromell
Miss Big Brother Little Brother, Amanda Roan, tops off National Women’s Day by hosting the “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” on Sunday afternoon to bring awareness to sexual assault.
Roan, a junior social work student from Miami, Florida, arranged a week’s worth of events leading up to National Women’s Day. The events included a swap and shop, study hall, self-defense class, and a heels dance class to elevate the women on campus. The week was concluded with the walk, with a mission to shift perspective amongst genders.
“This world is cut-up for them [men], it’s a man’s world,” Roan said. “They don’t know what it’s like to live in a man’s world as a woman.”
Roan aimed for this event to bridge the gap between men and women. She says when women are typically sexually assaulted or harassed that they may be dressed up in heels.
According to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five women will be raped at some point in their lives. That is a higher chance than their male counterparts, whereas one in 71 men will be raped within their life.
The walk started at 1 p.m. at the Polkinghorne Village breezeway. The men were given a selection of heels that differed in size and comfortability. The route for the walk began at the breezeway, continued through the parking lot, followed down the hill, and finished around the stadium lot.
Jamal Carty, a junior political science student and member of Big Brother Little Brother, believes the campus should highlight more women.
“It starts with being willing to unlearn the learned practices we’ve internalized as men when it comes to women”, Carty said.
According to the BBLB, the event also helped to challenge the narratives of Black men and masculinity. By participating in the walk, he and his brothers were able to become allies toward women’s rights.
“[We’re] to not only look at women as sisters, daughters, and aunts,” Carty said. “It’s not just about them being women. It’s about them being a human being.”
According to Miss BBLB, the event helped to create a space for men to respect women not just because of their relationship with one, but because women are superhuman. Roan was surprised and appreciative by the men’s participation and involvement.
“If you say human rights and try to remove one of those rights because I don’t have the same parts as you, then you don’t consider me human, and now you have to reevaluate how you look at the world,” Roan said.