‘Denim Day’ honored at SSU

Last Wednesday’s Denim Day aimed to spread awareness about sexual assault. In collaboration with Student Involvement, OPHD interns Shelby King and Kenya Robles coordinated Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The purpose of this event was to highlight resources on campus and give students an opportunity to participate in the worldwide movement.

Verity, Sonoma County’s Rape Crisis, Trauma, and Healing Center had set up a booth displaying patches of denim with messages of strength for victims. Passerbys could write messages on empty denim patches and clip them onto the lines strung across the table. Those stationed at the booth spoke to anyone who was interested in learning more. Berenice Mendez, a sexual assault advocate from Verity said “the event has been very popular so far.”

Mendez described the long complex history of how Demin day started. It originated in Italy in the 90s with an infamous rape case. An eighteen-year-old student driver was assaulted by her driving instructor. The young girls instructor then told her he would kill her if she told anybody. When the girl told her family what happened and it all came out, it went to court, where things somehow got worse. The Italian court had ruled that the victim had to have given consent because she was wearing tight jeans. They believed the jeans couldn’t be removed without the victim’s help. Regardless of all the ways this claim didn’t prove consent was given, an excuse was found and the court dismissed the rape charges.

Despite the complicated process of numerous attempts to appeal the ruling, it took over a decade for the decision to be overturned in the Italian Supreme Court. It sparked the now National Denim Day. This day is observed worldwide and is held every April 26th and it is acknowledged by over 20 out of our 50 states. It wraps up the tail end of April, which is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, by encouraging others to wear jeans and bring attention to the victim blaming that leads to situations like this.

Evelyn Munguia, who also represented Verity, described how in years prior the event has had similar turnouts of people coming by to learn about the day and its significance. Munguia described the different methods of spreading awareness about “how consent works” such as the acronym FRIES. FRIES stands for: Freely given, Reversible, Informed, Enthusiastic and Specific. This is just a fraction of what Verity can offer as a resource for victims of sexual assault. The big picture for them is providing “Compassion. Safety. Support.”

The whole day a variety of students came and went, some stopping by just briefly and others wanting to engage in conversation about awareness. Susan Palido, a confidential advocate for SSU, spoke about the event saying, “This was a collaboration with Student Involvement, you know, Mo Phillps and OPHD (office of prevention of harassment and discrimination), Shelby King…and all we wanted is for students to be helped and supported so that they can succeed as students.” She went on to add, “The advocacy office supports 130 students per academic year.” Shelby King, head of OPHD described the groups role as such, “We handle any complaints about sexual harassment and discrimination.” Denim Day not only raised awareness about sexual assault but also the campus resources to combat it.