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Join Us for Denim Day on April 26!

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By Ann Varner

Do you have any old denim that you’re ready to get rid of, or that you want to put to a good cause? Because today is the last day to donate! Items can be brought to the Violence Prevention and Response Office in 108B Haag Hall, or to the Oak Street or Hospital Hilly Residence Hall Lobbies. The denim donated will be used to make art for Denim Day, April 26th, 2017. You may be asking yourself what denim day and why it is important. April is sexual violence awareness month, and Denim Day is a campaign about sexual violence prevention and education.

In Rome in 1992, a woman was raped by her driving instructor. The man was convicted and sentenced. However, the Italian Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1998 because the victim wore tight jeans. In their minds, because her jeans were so tight, clearly she had to have helped the man remove them, which means she must have consented. Visit the Denim Day website for more information on the case, and the activism surrounding it.

This ruling sparked outrage across the world, as it should.  Now, on April 26th, women are encouraged to wear jeans of all kinds to say “Yes, we are wearing jeans. No, that doesn’t mean you can rape me”. There are many misconceptions about rape.

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One of the biggest misconceptions being that a woman is “asking for it” because of the clothes she’s wearing. In the end, NO means NO. It doesn’t matter what a woman is wearing; it doesn’t matter if she’s been flirting with a man all night; it doesn’t matter if she went to a man’s house. If she says no, it means no.

Stand with us on denim day and show that as women, we can wear whatever we please.