Denim Day in L.A.

Denim Day in L.A. is an event during which employees are encouraged to wear jeans (denim) to work as a way to raise awareness of sex crimes.

The event is organized around wearing denim because of a 1998 Italian court decision in which a 45-year-old man's rape conviction was overturned by the Italian Supreme Court. In Rome in 1997, the accused was a driving instructor. It is alleged that when he picked up an 18-year-old girl for her first driving lesson, he raped her for an hour, then told her that if she was to tell anyone he would kill her. Later that night she told her parents and her parents agreed to help her press charges. While the alleged rapist was convicted and sentenced, the Supreme Court ruled on the appeal that because the victim was wearing tight jeans (jeans which the Court ruled could only be removed with her help) the woman must have consented to the act. This indicated consent made the incident consenual sex, not rape.

The Head Judge's decision 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."

As a sign of protest, many women in the Italian Parliament protested the decision by wearing jeans. As a sign of support, the California Senate and Assembly followed suit. Soon Patricia Giggans, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women, made Denim Day an annual event. In 2006 it is to be hosted by Harry Lennix, an actor on ABC's show "Commander in Chief."

Previous denim days have occurred on: 4/25/01; 4/24/02; 4/23/03; 4/21/04; 4/27/05; 4/19/06; 4/22/09

Sources

Denim Day in L.A.: A Project of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women Now called Peace Over Violence [1]

The Herald (Glasgow) archived.

The Los Angeles Times archived.