Do you know why Denim Day happens every April 25th? The annual sexual violence prevention campaign was launched after an outrageous court ruling shocked the world.
In the late 1990s, a rape conviction set down in Italy was overturned because the eighteen-year-old victim was wearing jeans.
Yup. The “tightness” of the victim’s pants apparently implied consent. According to a piggish Chief Judge at the time,
“. . .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.”
Outraged female members of the Italian Parliament wore jeans to work in solidarity with the victim and to protest against the supreme court’s truly f*cked up, antiquated response.
Rape in Italy had just been upgraded from a “moral offense” to a criminal felony just three years before the Jean Strike. The legislative change meant that raping a woman was no longer a crime against the moralities of the public, but a crime against a human, the victim.
Even today, the accounts of female sexual assault victims are often subject to intense scrutiny over what they were wearing, suggesting that clothing choice instigates assaults.
Everyone at C.A. Goldberg is proud to wear denim today to encourage education around the stigmas that affect victims of sexual violence. If you are also participating in #DenimDay 2018, add your name to the registry at Denim Day Info.
If you are a victim of assault, speak out, get help, and know that you are supported.