Denim Day and Sexual Assault Awareness
While April is Sexual Assault Prevention Month, it is important to learn and seek to prevent sexual assault every month, not just in April.
Content Warning: This article will be discussing sexual assault, particularly statistics and prevention. Please be mindful that it may be triggering for some people.
Sexual assault, a form of sexual violence, is any sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the victim. While this behavior has been at large for millennia, technology has caused the interconnectedness throughout the world that offers a means for important conversations to be had and for change to eventually occur.
History of Denim Day
One such conversation is that of what Denim Day is and why it’s important. Denim Day is recognized internationally as a day devoted to the awareness of sexual assault and the barriers that survivors of sexual assault face following a 1998 Italian Supreme Court ruling.
As explained by denimday.org, an 18-year-old girl had been raped by her 45-year-old driving instructor during her first driving lesson. He had removed her jeans and forced himself on her. After reporting the rape, the man had been convicted of rape and sentenced to jail. The perpetrator then appealed the ruling to the Italian Supreme Court, claiming that it had been consensual. The Italian Supreme Court decided that it had been consensual sex rather than rape “because the victim was wearing very tight jeans, she had to help it remove them. By removing the jeans, it was not rape but consensual sex,” which would come to be known as the “jeans alibi” according to denimday.org.
The women of the Italian Parliament at the time had been outraged by this decision and decided to protest the decision by wearing jeans on the steps of the Italian Supreme Court. This inspired people around the world to wear denim in protest of sexual assault. This became an annual tradition known as Denim Day, where people around the world wear denim on the last Wednesday of April for the prevention and education of sexual violence.
Barriers that Survivors of Sexual Violence Face
As seen in the experience of the young Italian girl, survivors of sexual violence face an uphill battle personally as well as from society and institutions. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center shared that “rape is the most under-reported crime” in the US with only 37% of sexual assaults being reported to the police. Statistically, it is far less reported at 12% regarding the sexual abuse of children.
If they do report their assault, survivors are often met with disbelief or claims that it is a false report when the prevalence of false reporting is between 2% and 10%. It is also one of the most expensive crimes in the US since each rape costs approximately $151,423, placing an extreme financial burden on survivors.
Sexual assault can highly impact a survivor psychologically, emotionally, and physically. This can result in long-term mental health by developing conditions like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Anxiety, and Depression. Their experience may also impact how survivors see themselves and how they see the world. This may include developing eating disorders, hypersexuality, sleep disorders, suicide, self-harm, substance abuse, dissociation, and more.
Sexual Assault on College Campuses
Sexual assault is especially prevalent on college campuses with 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men sexually assaulted in college. This adds additional impacts on survivors since their education would also be affected. Since most survivors know their assailant, it may be difficult if the survivor is repeatedly around the perpetrator. With this and the national nature of the crime, over 90% of sexual assault survivors on college campuses do not report the assault. On small college campuses, this can be especially problematic. Rather than face these issues as well as the other impacts of sexual assault, survivors of sexual assault may transfer from their school or even drop out of college.
There are resources on college campuses to support survivors and report sexual assaults through universities’ Title IX Offices. Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex, including sexual violence. College or local counseling services, religious offices, and student life officers are additional resources that a survivor may go to. Title IX, counseling services, and campus organizations around the US have been working to facilitate conversations around sexual assault prevention and education on college campuses. For many universities and organizations around the world, Denim Day is an opportunity to both stand in solidarity with survivors and work together to highlight the prevalence and barriers of sexual assault.
“There is no excuse and never an invitation to rape.” — DenimDay.Org
Resources
Here are some resources for more information and support:
RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network)
NSVRC (National Sexual Violence Resource Center)
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1 (800) 656–4673
