Army ROTC cadets at Arizona State University say they were told they had to wear red high heels for an event to draw attention to sexual assault against women.
As part of the the event, "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes," which was hosted by ASU's Army ROTC program on Monday, the cadets wore heels and ran for 1.26 miles for Sexual Assault Awareness Month, according to
The State Press, ASU's student newspaper.
However, the
Independent Journal Review is reporting that participation was mandatory. One of the cadets explained how he and other members of his battalion were pressured into participating in the event on the social media sharing site Imgr.
"Tomorrow morning our entire rotc battalion [sic] is doing this 'walk a mile in her shoes' event where we all walk a mile in ACUs [Army Combat Uniform] with bright red high heels in place of our boots to promote awareness for sexual abuse on campus," he wrote.
"Attendance is mandatory and if we miss it we [g]et a negative counseling and a 'does not support the battalion sharp/EO mission' on our CDT OER for getting the branch we want," the ASU ROTC cadet explained.
"So I just spent $16 on a pair of high heels that I have to spray paint red later only to throw them in the trash after 300 of us embarrass the army tomorrow."
A Reddit discussion thread confirmed that the cadet's claims were true, when someone asked, "Okay, who put the cadets up to this?"
Someone responded that "I just don’t understand why [General] Combs would court political controversy like this. Isn’t the military supposed to avoid faddish political movement and religious issues."
But a different cadet said that they were allowed to wear civilian clothes, if they wanted.
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