Participate in Denim Day to Show Support for Sexual Assault Survivors

April is Sexual Violence Awareness Month and Emory employees are invited to participate in Denim Day April 23, 2014 as part of an international effort to show support for sexual assault survivors by wearing jeans.

Denim Day stems from a 1992 Italian court case in which a rapist’s conviction was overturned; because the survivor was wearing jeans, the judge reasoned that she must have helped the rapist remove them, deeming the act consensual. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim.  This finding has since been overturned and there is no longer a denim defense to the charge of rape.  Since then, wearing jeans on International Denim Day has become a symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault.