Denim Day in LA and USA
April 25, 2012
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa held a news conference at World Peace Headquarters to commemorate the 13th Annual Denim Day. Denim Day in LA & USA, held each April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, is an award-winning annual sexual violence prevention and educational campaign. On this this day people are encouraged to wear jean to support survivors of sexual assault and raise awareness around sexual violence issues.
The Mayor used this occasion to call on Congress to reauthorize the federal Violence Against Women Act. Throughout the City, LAUSD middle and high school campuses will take part in Denim Day activities.
Organized annually by the nonprofit organization Peace Over Violence, Denim Day started in 1999 after an Italian Supreme Court case sparked international outrage when judges did not convict a rapist because the victim wore tight jeans. The judges ruled that because the victim must have helped her attacker remove the jeans, it was no longer rape but consensual sex. Within hours, the women in the Italian Parliament protested by wearing jeans to work and later that year, activists in Los Angeles organized the first Denim Day.
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