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NMCP Hosts 3rd Annual 'Walk a Lap in Her Heels'
Story Number: NNS130404-28
4/4/2013

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Anna Arndt

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (NNS) -- More than 100 men and women from 15 commands donned women's high heels for a walk around Naval Medical Center Portsmouth's track to kick off Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (SAAPM) April 3.

This is the 3rd annual "Walk a Lap in Her Heels" event, which is meant to draw attention to the topic, and was hosted by Morale, Welfare, and Recreation and Naval Station Norfolk's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program (SAPR).

This year's Department of Defense theme is "We own it...we'll fix it...together." NMCP is joining the rest of the Navy in leveraging SAAPM as a vehicle to emphasize the ongoing commitment to instill a climate that does not tolerate, condone or ignore sexist behavior, sexual harassment or sexual assault.

"The purpose is to increase awareness," said Cmdr. Deborah Sweetman, NMCP's lead SAPR advocate. "As the old saying goes, you never know a person until you walk a mile in their shoes. One in four females and one in six males will be the victim of sexual assault in their lifetime."

The idea for the event was taken from the nationally recognized Walk a Mile in Her Shoes Foundation, which began in 2001. Its mission is to give men an opportunity to raise awareness in their communities, to take sexual violence seriously and work toward eliminating it.

"This showed some of the gentlemen who walked in the heels that it is not easy being a victim," said Sonar Technician 2nd Class Nicole Garyalvarez, a SAPR advocate on USS Bulkeley. "I think this event is awesome, it's worth the time to come out here and support, and I think we should do things like this more often. I don't think it just showed men, but it showed women as well, what it's like to be a victim. That's a really long walk in heels; it's about a half a mile, so just think about that long walk, like a victim having to walk home after an attack."

The event consisted of men and a few women walking just one lap instead of a mile, while wearing heels in order to gain a better understanding of what it's like to be a woman, to literally put themselves "in her shoes." At the end of the lap, not only did some have sore feet, but they all had more respect and appreciation for the experiences of women.

"My job as a victim advocate is very important," Garyalvarez said. "This event shows that you need support. Because a lot of people needed support through this walk, and you're going to need support through the events that come with a sexual assault."

Active duty service members are given sexual assault awareness training annually, but there were still 578 reported cases of sexual assault in the Navy in 2009, which is the most recent year that statistics are available. According to Sweetman, about 50 percent of these occurred on military bases.

"This event reinforced what we have been taught," said Yeoman 1st Class Jamie Blanco, USS Iwo Jima. "It shows that keeping people aware can be fun."

"I hope participants take away the importance of being the aware bystander and knowledge of the incidence of sexual assault and how it is impacting our Sailors, "Sweetman said, "because it does impact our readiness, and readiness, jointness and values are the surgeon general's three goals."

"Sexual assault is a problem we should not be having in our country, but unfortunately that is not case," said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Tyler Harris, NMCP's Staff Education and Training Department. "I believe we at times become too impersonal because we are afraid of involving ourselves in other's lives, which can be misconstrued as intrusive. Today, we pulled together to do something we see as a small thing of just walking a lap in a woman's shoes. This helped raise my awareness by taking me out of my comfort zone."

During the month of April, NMCP's SAPR will be including information on Sexual Assault Awareness in the Plan of the Day, on the televisions throughout the medical center and on the marquee near the main gate. They will also set up a table outside the galley every Thursday from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. with information on the subject.

Sexual Assault Prevention and Response is an important element of the readiness area of the 21st Century Sailor and Marine initiative which consolidates a set of objectives and policies, new and existing, to maximize Sailor and Marine personal readiness, build resiliency and hone the most combat-effective force in the history of the Navy and Marine Corps. The Department of the Navy is working to aggressively to prevent sexual assaults, to support sexual assault victims, and to hold offenders accountable.

Help raise awareness by joining the conversation on social media using #SexualAssault and #SAAPM.

For more news from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, visit www.navy.mil/local/NMCP/.