There is no excuse and NEVER an invitation to rape.

The Denim Day story began in Italy 1992, when an 18-year old girl was raped by the 45-year old driving instructor who was taking her to her very first driving lesson. He took her to an isolated road, pulled her out of the car, removed her jeans and forcefully raped her.

She reported the rape, and the perpetrator was arrested and prosecuted. He was then convicted of rape and sentenced to jail. Years later, he appealed the conviction claiming that the sex was consensual, leading the Italian Supreme Court to overturn the conviction and release the perpetrator. A statement from the Court argued that because the victim was wearing very tight jeans, she had to help remove them, and by removing the jeans it was not rape but consensual sex. This became known throughout Italy as the “jeans alibi.”

Enraged by the verdict, the women in the Italian Parliament launched a protest wearing jeans on the steps of the Supreme Court. This protest was picked up by international media which inspired the California Senate and Assembly to do the same on the steps of the Capitol in Sacramento. Patti Occhiuzzo Giggans, Executive Director of Peace Over Violence, saw this in the media and thought everyone should be wearing jeans to protest all of the myths about why women and girls are raped. Thus, Denim Day in LA was born. The first Denim Day in LA event was held in April 1999, and has continued annually since. 

For more information on the case, visit The New York Times’ coverage.

Please visit www.denimday.org, take the pledge https://denimday.org/pledge , and rock your denim on Wednesday, April 30th in solidarity of all sexual assault survivors. Have a conversation with a friend about one thing you might do to help end sexual violence in your community. Odds are you and/or your family and friends have been directly impacted by some sort of sexual violence.