DENIM DAY 2021
CiAM is committed to engaging students, staff, and faculty to create a culture of respect to prevent and eliminate harassment.
The Denim Day campaign is intended to seek active support from all constituents to foster a positive and safe environment that works to prevent the likelihood of sexual misconduct and harassment on campus.
Denim Day is a campaign to prevent sexual violence through education and public awareness. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and Denim Day is a call to action for all people to come together by wearing denim as a visible sign of protest against sexual violence.
Denim Day grew out of a 1998 Italian Supreme Court decision that overturned a rape conviction because the victim wore tight jeans. An 18-year old girl is picked up by her married 45-year old driving instructor for her very first lesson. He takes her to an isolated road, pulls her out of the car, wrestles her out of one leg of her jeans and forcefully rapes her. Threatened with death if she tells anyone, he makes her drive the car home. Later that night she tells her parents, and they help and support her to press charges. The perpetrator gets arrested and is prosecuted. He is convicted of rape and sentenced to jail.
He then appeals the sentence. The case makes it’s all the way to the Italian Supreme Court. Within a matter of days, the case against the driving instructor is overturned, dismissed, and the perpetrator released. In a statement by the Chief Judge, he argued, “because the victim wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them, and by removing the jeans it was no longer rape but consensual sex.”
Enraged by the verdict, within a matter of hours, the women in the Italian Parliament launched into immediate action and protested by wearing jeans to work. This call to action motivated and emboldened the California Senate and Assembly to do the same. People all over the world were outraged, and wearing jeans became an international symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes and myths surrounding sexual assault.
Thus, Denim Day was born… Support for sexual assault survivors is so important! We stand with you. If you need resources to help you, please see the information below.
You can find more information here:
- https://www.peaceoverviolence.org/denim-day
- http://denimdayinfo.org/
- https://www.facebook.com/DenimDayInLA/
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