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Health & Fitness

Wear Denim to End Sexual Violence

Please join ZCenter in a visible sign of protest against victim-blaming on Wednesday, April 24th by having your school or office hold a Denim Day!

Every two minutes, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted and 60% of these assaults are never reported to the police, making it the most underreported violent crime in America[i].  Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center (ZCenter), in Gurnee, IL, seeks to provide quality, comprehensive, client-centered services to survivors of sexual assault and abuse and  cultivate social change through providing prevention education and training to the community. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) in the United States and ZCenter is excited to join a national movement against victim-blaming on the 24th: Denim Day.

Denim Day began twenty three years ago in Italy, when an 18-year-old woman was picked up by her 45-year-old driving instructor for her first for her first lesson, taken to an isolated road where he raped and threatened her with murder if she disclosed to anyone.  Undeterred, the brave woman prosecuted her rapist and he was subsequently convicted and sent to jail.  He went on to appeal the case, which made it all the way up to the Italian Supreme Court, where, in a matter of days, the case was overturned and dismissed.  He was released.

In a statement by the Chief Judge, he argued that “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.”

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Enraged by the verdict, the women in the Italian Parliament launched into immediate action and protested by wearing jeans to work.  Since then, the movement has spread all over the world in an effort to bring awareness to the many myths that still surround sexual violence. 

Please join ZCenter in a visible sign of protest against victim-blaming on Wednesday, April 24th by having your school or office hold a Denim Day where employees or students can donate $1 - $5 in order to wear jeans to work or school for the day.  Please contact Stephanie Garrity, ZCenter’s Director of Development & Stewardship, for more information. Awareness is a critical component to shifting harmful attitudes and enacting social change; this April, let’s show survivors of sexual assault and abuse that we believe and support them!

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[i] National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC)

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