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Denim Day
April 29, 2020
Why Denim Day?
In the 1990s, an 18 year old woman was raped by a 45 year old driving instructor. The perpetrator gets arrested and is prosecuted. He is convicted of rape and sentenced to jail but he appeals the sentence and wins in the Supreme Court. A symbolic gesture – an Italian court overturned a rape conviction due to the judges not believing that the victim had not consented to sexual contact since, in their opinion, her jeans were so tight the perpetrator could not have gotten them off without her assistance. Outraged, the Italian Parliament protested by wearing jeans to work.
Sounds outrageous, yet in Italy, and all over the world, women and men who are victims of sexual assault continue to be disbelieved and accused of causing the assault due to their behavior… or fashion sense. This has to stop.
Resources:
- For more information about the international Denim Day movement, visit http://denimdayinfo.org/.
- Also see Denim Day Milwaukee, a community-wide effort in Milwaukee to raise awareness of sexual assault through the Denim Day movement.
- Visit our Facebook page to learn more events across the state. We hope you can join one of them.
If you are planning an event in your community, you are welcome to build from these resources: