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By Lizzy West
Arts & Entertainment Editor

Rarely can a group of grown men be seen walking around in high heels on Cuesta’s campus, however, students from the sexuality and psychology of women classes held a Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event where exactly that happened.

On April 20, the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event was one of many similar marches across both San Luis Obispo County and the country, where men literally step into the shoes of a sexual assault survivor.

The event was held in conjunction with RISE, a non-profit organization that aims to help the victims of domestic and sexual assault. RISE stands for the organization’s values: respect, inspire, support and empower.

Students of the sexuality and psychology of women classes at Cuesta do activism projects every year, but this year they decided to be more collaborative, and discussed RISE in conjunction with April being sexual assault awareness month, said the classes’ professor Bailey Drechsler.

Volunteers manned booths with fliers and stickers in support of the walk. High heels of all sizes were available to be checked out.

The event began with Jeselle Tashchian, a Cuesta student, reading a poem “Can I?”

Gage Washburn, dressed as Captain America, led the crowd through a demonstration of how to properly walk in high heels.

“It’s not that different from combat boots,” said Boyd Tarwater, a family studies and addiction studies student at Cuesta. “They’re all uncomfortable as hell.”

Thankfully, despite the fact that most of the men participating had never walked in high heels before, there were no big spills.

“Almost had one man down,” Drechsler said. “He was wearing red stilettos but he wasn’t going to give up. He walked that whole mile in red stilettos.”