Denim Day 2020

April 29th is Denim Day. We invite you to join us in wearing denim, posting a picture on Facebook, and tagging us (RapeCrisis Centerof RobesonCounty) to show solidarity with survivors and promote awareness related to rape and sexual assault.

The Backstory
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In Italy in the 1990s, a 45-year-old driving instructor was accused of rape. When he picked up an 18-year-old girl for her first driving lesson, he sexually assaulted her, then told her that if she was to tell anyone he would kill her. Later that night she told her parents and her parents helped her press charges. The rapist was convicted and sentenced to a lesser charge of indecent exposure. The victim appealed, and he subsequently was convicted of all charges. The accused appealed to the Italian Supreme Court, which overturned the conviction in 1998 because the victim wore tight jeans. It was argued that the jeans were so tight that the only way to have gotten them off was if she had helped her attacker remove her jeans, thus making the act consensual ("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"). The Italian Supreme Court stated in its decision "it is a fact of common experience that it is nearly impossible to slip off tight jeans even partly without the active collaboration of the person who is wearing them." As of 2008 the Italian Supreme Court has overturned their findings, and there is no longer a "denim" defense to the charge of rape.