Northern Michigan University students participate in a walk through campus early Thursday evening to demonstrate their belief that women's attire is not an invitation for sexual assault. The event was part of the It's On Us Week of Action at NMU. (Journal photo by Christie Bleck)

MARQUETTE — Not all of the Northern Michigan University students who gathered in the lobby of Hunt and Van Antwerp halls Thursday were dressed as if they were on their way to a job interview or church.

That was the point.

Female — and male — students held a rally and a walk through campus at about 5:30 p.m., beginning at Hunt/Van Antwerp. The event was part of NMU’s It’s On Us Week of Action, which supported education, prevention and response efforts connected with sexual misconduct and relationship violence.

The focus of the rally/walk focused on the belief that If some students are dressed in attire that many people might consider provocative, that would be no excuse for assault.

The name for the rally was Slut Walk, with Brooke Tharp, a junior majoring in social work and Spanish, explaining the participants wanted to destigmatize the word and show that clothing should not equal consent.

“Society should stop shaming women for their sexuality and what they’re wearing,” she said.

It’s an individual’s choice, she said: People can dress either conservatively or in a revealing manner.

“Clothing does not mean you’re giving someone consent for sex, and it’s also saying that women should be able to wear what they feel comfortable wearing, and what they want to wear, without being shamed for it,” Tharp said.

That concept also should be considered in court trials when women are asked what they were wearing, which she believes has nothing to do with the rapes.

Tharp said this is the second year the group Women for Women NMU put on the walk, with this year’s event tied into the It’s On Us Week of Action.

It’s also timely considering the controversy surrounding Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee accused of sexual misconduct.

Tharp is co-president of Women for Women NMU along with Lawryn Brown, a senior majoring in community health, who also believes societal change is in order.

“Women are over-sexualized in society,” Brown said.

Henry Dalluhn, a sophomore accounting major, participated in Thursday’s event.

“I’m taking part because I have experienced, through both myself and other people, the horrible things that men just do just because they think they have the right to,” Dalluhn said.

He belongs to the group MOB On Campus — Men Outside the Box — which he said is devoted to helping people understand that “toxic masculinity” isn’t necessary.

The group also wants to bring awareness of how to change that culture, he said.

“I think it’s very powerful that a group is getting together and speaking out towards the fact that just because women dress the way they dress, that does not mean that any man has the right to do anything to them, and I feel for the people who have been victimized,” Dalluhn said.