Social Statement with Your Fashion Statement
Today, April 21, marks National Denim Day – an opportunity to bring awareness about violence and sexual assault through wearing your favorite pair of jeans. Advocacy could not be made any simpler!
Why Denim Day? In Italy, in 1993, 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 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.”
So, put on those jeans and let’s make a statement to STOP THE VIOLENCE!
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