The UAW is recognizing National Denim Day by supporting a fundraising campaign by Enough Sexual Assault in Detroit (Enough SAID) to process rape kits found in a Detroit Police Department storage unit in 2009. Of the 11,000 kits that were discovered, over 1,000 still need to be processed.
For the past 18 years, Peace Over Violence has run its Denim Day campaign on a Wednesday in April in honor of Sexual Violence Awareness Month. The campaign was originally triggered by a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she must have helped her rapist remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. Peace Over Violence developed the Denim Day campaign in response to this case and the activism surrounding it. Since then, wearing jeans on Denim Day has become a symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault. In this rape prevention education campaign we ask community members, elected officials, businesses and students to make a social statement with their fashion by wearing jeans on this day as a visible means of protest against the misconceptions that surround sexual assault. This year’s Denim Day is April 26, 2017.
If you believe justice delayed is justice denied, wear jeans on Wednesday, April 26 to support justice for sexual assault victims.
Other users read these articles next...