DENIM DAY IN LA IS APRIL 19!!

Denim Day in LA is today, and we were able to get permission to wear jeans to work. For a minimum donation of $5.00, my colleagues and I not only got to work in comfort and style, but also help support an organization that seeks to raise awareness and (hopefully) reduce the number of sexual assaults.

I'm happy to report that through either a genuine concern for women or just the privilege of wearing blue jeans (we don't usually get to wear them, even on casual fridays), I've raised $160 for the cause (and the dollahz keep rollin in!)

For further information on the on-going efforts of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women, please go to here. You can make a donation on line, or send in a check, and make a political statement with your fashion statement.


About Denim Day

HISTORY

Rome – Italy, 1997
A 17-year old girl was picked up by her 56-year old instructor for her very first driving lesson. An hour later, raped and abandoned by him in alley, she made her way back home. Undeterred, she prosecuted him and won. The driving instructor is convicted of rape and sentenced to jail.

Months later - 1998
The perpetrator appealed the sentence. The case made its way to the Italian Supreme Court. Within a matter of days, the case against the driving instructor is overturned, dismissed, and the perpetrator was released.

Why Denim?
In a statement released by the Head Judge, he argued, “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.” Enraged by the verdict, within a matter of hours the women in the Italian Parliament launched into immediate action and protested by wearing jeans to work. This call to action motivated and emboldened the California Senate and Assembly to do the same, which in turn spread to Patricia Giggans, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women, and Denim Day in L.A. was born.

Every year since LACAAW has organized Denim Day in L.A., a rape prevention education campaign, asking community members, elected officials, businesses and students to make a social statement with their fashion statement and wear jeans as a visible means of protest against myths that surround sexual assault. In previous years, Denim Day in L.A. has had over 55,000 participants throughout Los Angeles County.