#DenimDay is a nationwide reminder about the rampant cases of sexual assault and works to dispel erroneous myths surrounding the topic.
The National Institute for Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that one out of every six American women has either been completely raped or attempted to be raped at one time in her life. They institute also finds that over half of these rapes will not be reported. Of those reported, only one out of four cases will lead to an arrest. If that’s not gloomy enough, only one out of four of those arrests will lead to an incarceration.
Imagine being one of those one in four who makes it to the trial. Your only peace of mind is the hope that justice is on the horizon. That comfort gives you the strength to face your perpetrator and relive the horrors of the attack in courtroom proceedings. However, when judgement day comes, it is not a peace you receive, but rather a teardown of your spirit and a further diminishing of your self-worth because the ruling says the way you dressed made you consent.
In 1999 this scenario happened. An Italian Supreme Court overruled a rape conviction because the victim was wearing tight jeans at the time of the incident. It was determined that her jeans were too tight for her attacker to remove them without her help. This in turn made the assault consensual sex.
This ruling was overturned in 2008, but these type of stigmas and erroneous beliefs about sexual assault still exist. No matter the situation, no person asks to be personally taken advantage of and violated for another’s sexual gratification. The bottom line, there is no excuse for rape.
It’s more than a decade after this case, but the statistics aren’t getting better and the cases aren’t getting fewer. So we take a pledge to speak out about injustices and to support our victims with a denim clothing display. It’s not too late, rummage through your drawers, pull out your favorite pants and snap a #denimday selfie educating the world of the cause.
Denim jeans today for a safer more just world tomorrow!
To learn more information and to take the pledge visit denimdayusa.org.
Pledging my support in my denim top and bottoms!
Fearless Expressioner 