Today: CSCU Wears Jeans on Denim Day to Raise Awareness about Sexual Violence

In honor of Sexual Violence Awareness month, staff and students of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) System Office in Hartford and Tunxis Community College in Farmington will participate in national Denim Day by wearing jeans on Wednesday, April 25, 2018.

For the last 19 years, Peace Over Violence has run its Denim Day Campaign during Sexual Violence Awareness Month on a Wednesday in April, to create a community conversation about how to prevent sexual violence. In this rape prevention education campaign, community members, elected officials, business people and students are asked to make a social statement by wearing jeans as a visible means of protest against misconceptions surrounding sexual assault.

“We want to support victims of sexual assault and this important campaign,” said CSCU President Mark Ojakian. “Hopefully we can raise awareness about the prevention of sexual violence across our 17 CSCU institutions.”

The campaign was originally triggered by an Italian Supreme Court ruling where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped her rapist remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim.  Peace Over Violence developed the Denim Day campaign in response to this case, and wearing jeans on Denim Day has become a symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault.