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“Denim Day,” held on different days in different states, is sponsored by Peace Over Violence, which encourages people to use the occasion to “make a social statement with their fashion statement” by wearing jeans as a “visible means of protest against misconceptions that surround sexual assault.” If you don’t know the back story, it’s chilling.
Eight years ago, an 18-year-old woman in Italy was raped by her 45-year old driving instructor. Even though he threatened to kill her if she said anything, she went to police. He was later convicted of the crime.
But he appealed and won because “the victim wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them,” the chief judge of the Italian Supreme Court wrote, “and by removing the jeans it was no longer rape but consensual sex.”
In a phrase, it was the “she was asking for it” defense that allowed a sexual predator to go free.
That same day, women in the Italian Parliament wore jeans to work in protest — and a symbol of sexual assault awareness was born.
“Wearing jeans to work or school may seem like a small gesture, but to an individual who has been sexually assaulted or abused, it is a huge sign of solidarity,” said Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen), the chairwoman of the N.J. State Assembly‘s Human Services Committee.
Valerie Vainieri-Huttle
“It also serves to remind victims of rape and sexual assault that they are not alone and they are not at fault for what happened,” she said.
Vainieri Huttle, the prime sponsor of the legislation that established an annual Denim Day in New Jersey, will attend a Denim Day event — hosted by the YWCA of Bergen County — at 11 a.m. tomorrow on the steps of the Bergen County Justice Center in Hackensack.
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