Denim Day in Silicon Valley
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Wearing jeans on "Denim Day", during April’s National Sexual Assault Awareness Month has become an international symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault. Community members throughout Santa Clara County can show their support by wearing jeans to work or while out in the community.
For more information on how you and your co-worker can join in on "Wear Denim to Work Day Silicon Valley" e-mail Sandy Davis, Director Rape Crisis Centers or call her at (408) 295-4011 ext. 231.
Rome—Italy, 1997
A 17- year-old girl is whisked up by her 56-year-old instructor for her very first driving lesson. An hour later—raped and abandoned by him in an alley she has to struggle to find her way back home. Undeterred, she prosecuted him and won. The driving instructor is convicted of rape and sentenced to jail.
Months later, 1998
The perpetrator appeals the sentence. The case makes it 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.
Why Denim?
In a statement released by the Head 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.” Enraged by the verdict, within a matter of hours the women in the Italian Parliament launched into immediate action and protested by wearing JEANS to work. This call to action motivated and emboldened the California Senate and Assembly to do the same, and Denim Day was born.