Join us on our efforts to bring awareness and support to victim of Sexual Assault 


  This year we are bringing awareness by taking a stand with a case that inspired Denim Day.

   We ask people to wear denim and understand why.

Denim Day came to be in April of 1999 as a solidarity movement for a young Italian woman who was a victim of rape. When 18, a young woman was off on her first driving lesson. What should have been a right of passage turned into the beginning of a harmful and traumatic experience. During the lesson, the 45-year-old driving instructor led them to an isolated road where he forcefully raped the young woman. A report was made, a conviction was eventually successful, and the perpetrator was incarcerated. 
 
  Years later, the perpetrator appealed his conviction, insisting they had consensual sex. The Italian Supreme Court overturned the conviction, and the perpetrator was released. The standpoint for the overturned conviction was that the victim had been wearing tight jeans. With this argument, they painted a misconception that the only way he could have had sex with her was if she assisted him in removing her jeans and, in doing so, giving consent. 

   This outraged many, not only in Italy but around the world. This is what inspired Denim day. April 26th, 2023, will be the 24th annual Denim Day. The fight is not over, and the misconception that victims of sexual assault are to blame remains. Join us not just on the 26th and not just in April but continuously in supporting victims of domestic and sexual violence.

    For more information about the Domestic Violence Coalition and its mission, please explore the rest of our website, and if you can, please donate to further our cause    
  
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