Men try taking a walk in women's shoes in Sexual Assault Awareness Month event

Apr. 24—CHEYENNE — Crisis intervention teams from several different local agencies came together Wednesday to raise awareness of sexual assault.

Local domestic violence shelter Safehouse Services held its annual Walk in Her Shoes event at the Cheyenne Depot, where local men put on and walked in high heels, slip-ons and other footwear that appeared feminine to raise awareness of sexual assault in the community.

Felicia Raimondi, an advocate with Safehouse, said the event had 25 partner organizations, many of which decorated jeans with messages that helped raise awareness.

To bring the need for Sexual Assault Awareness Month into perspective, one speaker cited harrowing statistics to highlight just how frequently sexual assaults occur, and how rarely they are discussed or reported. Nine out of every 10 sexual assault victims is a woman, one speaker said, adding that the American Civil Liberties Union estimated that 95% of rapes in college go unreported.

The speaker, identified in a program only as Julianna, cited those statistics, and others, to talk about how ingrained sexual assault can be into the lives of many people. Despite that, she and others said, there is still a stigma surrounding the discussion and advocacy of sexual assault victims.

Because of their work with vulnerable communities, and the potential for retaliation from abusers, most speakers at the event chose to only be identified by their first name, a Safehouse employee told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

Many of the walk participants were Laramie County Sheriff's deputies, who the agency's victim services coordinator, Tracy, said all egged each other on to participate.

"I got one, and he was super excited," she said. "Then, he got everyone else excited."

Dozens of men walked around the Cheyenne Depot Plaza in heels, many holding signs that showed support for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

The event also commemorated "Denim Day," which is why several agencies displayed jeans with messages for, and from, sexual assault survivors. Raimondi, in her remarks, told the story of how "Denim Day" came to be.

The symbol of denim jeans came from an infamous 1992 case in Italy, she said, where an 18-year-old was raped by a 45-year-old driving instructor, who took her to a secluded area. After a post-conviction appeal by the perpetrator, the Italian Supreme Court ruled that the victim, since she was wearing tight jeans, needed to assist the man who assaulted her in order to remove her jeans. This led to immense public outcry at the time, and the decision was dubbed the "jeans alibi" in Italy.

"The women in the Italian Parliament launched a protest, wearing jeans on the steps of the Italian Supreme Court," she said. "This protest is picked up by the international media, which inspired the California Senate and Assembly to do the same on the steps of the Capitol in Sacramento. ... The first 'Denim Day,' in L.A. was held in April of 1999 and has continued, annually, since."

Denim became a symbol for survivors, and for female empowerment in the face of systemic ignorance and denial of claims of sexual abuse, she said.

As a result, the various local agencies brought 42 unique pairs of jeans to Wednesday's event. Some of the jeans had handprints and messages from sexual assault survivors, while others showed local support for sexual assault victims from different agencies.

The agencies involved in putting together the event were:

— Safehouse Services

— CASA of Laramie County

— Laramie County Sheriff's Office Victim Assistance Office

— Cheyenne Police Department Victim Assistance Office

— U.S Attorney's Victim Assistance Office

— Cheyenne Regional Medical Center Forensic Nursing Department

— F.E. Warren Air Force Base Victim Assistance Office

— F.E. Warren Air Force Base SAPR Office

— Safe Harbor

— Laramie County District Attorney's Victim Assistance Office

"One in four girls and one in six boys have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime," CASA of Laramie County Executive Director Sarah Urbanek said. "If you look around this room and start looking at the person next to you, you realize that they may be victims or have been victims.

"... I don't think we take enough time to think about what happens in our community."

Samir Knox is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's criminal justice and public safety reporter. He can be reached by email at sknox@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3152. Follow him on X at @bySamirKnox.

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