Denim Day raises awareness of ‘victim blaming' during Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Yahoo

30-04-2025

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, with the last Wednesday of every April being known as Denim Day. It's not just a day to show off your favorite jeans, it's a day to raise awareness about sexual assault, and speak out against victim blaming.
But to understand why we have Denim Day now, we first must go back to Italy in 1998, when a high-profile rape trial saw a shocking development, years after the original decision.
The conviction was overturned.
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The appealed decision was based on the defendant's account that the victim's jeans were so tight he couldn't have removed them himself, implying consent.
'Shortly after that, women showed up to the Italian parliament in jeans,' said Open Door Network CEO Lauren Skidmore.
The gesture started a movement that went worldwide, and years later, Los Angeles-based organization Peace Over Violence established Denim Day. Now, according to Peace Over Violence, millions worldwide wear denim on the last Wednesday in April to protest.
'It really is an opportunity for us to stand with victims of sexual assault and try to reduce victim shaming that happens every single day,' said Skidmore.
Victims like Carrie Blind, who moved past her pain and now owns a salon in downtown Bakersfield. Like many others, she had her own issues with victim blaming.
'I was sexually assaulted by two, possibly three men at the same time,' she said.
'When it comes to Denim Day and talking about victim blaming, it's very difficult sometimes as a survivor to be taken seriously, because there are accusations of sexual abuse that are made up,' Blind said.
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'No one wants to believe that their brother or their friend or their son has the capability of assaulting someone sexually. So absolutely, there's lot of blaming of victims that happens like 'what was she wearing, what did she say, what did she do, how did she allude to the fact that she gave him permission to do something like that?''
And so the denim isn't just a fashion trend. It's a stance. A stance defending those who have suffered enough already.
'For so long I felt so ugly. I felt so terrible about myself that I didn't want to be seen in a community, I didn't want people to know that I had experience what I had experienced,' said Blind. 'Now being able to participate in Denim Days, it makes a difference. It gives all of us survivors an opportunity to stand up and say, 'yes, this happened to me.''
If you are a victim of sexual violence, you're not alone. Call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673, or visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network's website at RAINN.org.
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