Today, Nia Norris is on Perspectives again, discussing the different shoes survivors might wear.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Safe Passage is holding several events including the Take Back the Night Rally and Walk a Mile in Their Shoes – for these events, it is important that we unlearn what we think we know about sexual assault being something that happens only to white cis women.
Traditionally Walk a Mile is a march where men wear high heels and walk a mile in the shoes of a sexual assault survivor – but you can bring whatever shoes you want this year because people all along the binary can be sexual assault survivors.
-Nia, Director of Prevention and Communication
The official theme this month is Drawing Connections: Prevention Demands Equity. Ending sexual violence means unpacking our idea that sexual assault is something that only happens to women who are assigned female at birth — in fact, sexual assault can be experienced by people of any gender or gender identity, and happens to marginalized communities at higher rates than cis white women.
In order to realize our mission to promote the right of all to nonviolent and abuse-free relationships, we need to connect with all communities that are impacted by violence.
Our main programming for Sexual Assault Awareness Month will kick off Monday with Take Back the Night and then Saturday we will have our annual Walk a Mile in Their Shoes Fundraiser. Then, the following week on April 26, join us on NIU’s campus for a denim day.
