I support the idea of an individual's or group's right to protest. I'm not a big protest person myself, at least, not in the sense of large group protests with chants and all. I'm not prone to join a march to raise awareness, because I guess I'm just not that sold on the effectiveness of it. Once in a while, I guess it is, but the vast majority, not so much.

Then I also support the idea of a person's right to behave foolishly in public. I find myself embarrassed for them, but they are free to behave as idiotically as they want to, within the bounds of the law. I suspect we are going to see some of that this coming weekend with the men in high heels march intended (how, I'm not certain) to raise awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault.

For starters, I'm always skeptical of this "raise awareness" approach. Are we not aware that domestic violence exists? Is there anyone in this city over the age of 20 who does not know this? Are we similarly unaware of the horrifying existence of sexual assault? Particularly given what happened recently at Little Sq. Beach?

Okay, for the sake of argument, let's answer those questions, "No, we are not aware."

This Saturday, Western Men Against Violence is hosting the "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" march to raise awareness of these realities. Starting at 11 AM with a rally at the Performing Arts Center Plaza, these "men" will be "marching" from the plaza to the Boundary Bay Brewery and Bistro for an after-march party.

How does this solve the problem? What quantifiable effect will this have? How does this bring about awareness of the issue where ostensibly such awareness does not exist?

Perhaps I'm just too obtuse to see it, but I see little tangible value for curbing violence against women, and see instead a group of college boys making fools of themselves by wearing high heels and walking to a bar.

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