What is Denim Day?

Why denim? In the late 90’s an 18-year-old Italian girl was sexually assaulted by her 45-year-old male driving instructor. While he was initially convicted of the crime and sent to prison, the ruling was later overturned by the Italian Supreme Court because the justices felt that because the victim wore tight jeans, she must have helped remove them thereby making the act consensual.

The following day the women of the Italian Legislature protested this decision by wearing jeans to work. As news of the decision spread, so did the protests. It is now an internationally celebrated awareness campaign that allows us to honor survivors of sexual assault and start conversations about the dangers of victim blaming.

Questions like: “what was she wearing?” “how drunk was she?” “why was she alone?” blame survivors for their assault WHILE PROTECTING PERPETRATORS.

This day brings awareness to the harmful effects of victim blaming and shows how a society that allows victim blaming and shaming to continue in its culture, effects everything - including justice in courts.

Join me the 4th Wednesday of each April to raise awareness about sexual assault and the harmful effects of victim blaming. To find out more visit DenimDay.org.

Know and share the stats

• Every 92 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted

• Every 9 minutes, that victim is a child

• Meanwhile, only 5 out of every 1,000 perpetrators will end up in prison

• 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old

• 1 in 3 women experience some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetime

• 1 in 5 women are raped, and 1 in 71 men are raped

• 8 out of 10 victims knew their rapist

• 91% of victims of rape and sexual assault are female and 9% are male

• Rape is the most under-reported crime; 63% of sexual assaults are not reported to police

• The prevalence of false reporting is low — between 2% and 10%

source: https://www.rainn.org/statistics