MPA Supports "Denim Day 2011"

PSA Video - Center for Family Services - www.denimdaysnj.org

MILWAUKEE, WI - April 27, 2011 - Denim Day 2011 is a campaign to prevent sexual violence in our neighborhoods and city through education and public awareness. We have had a recent rash of rapes in the City of Milwaukee at gun point. We are asking our neighborhood-level organizations (for-profit and non-profit) to draft outreach and posting to support this effort on Wednesdays and Fridays.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Background
The Denim Day campaign began in 1999 with CALCASA and LACAAW, the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women, as part of an international protest of an Italian Supreme Court decision to overturn a rape conviction because the victim was wearing jeans.

The Italian Supreme Court dismissed charges against a 45-year old rape suspect because his 18-year-old victim was wearing jeans at the time of the attack. The Court stated in its decision that "It is common knowledge...that jeans cannot even be partly removed without the effective help of the person wearing them....and it is impossible if the victim is struggling with all her might." The judgment sparked a worldwide outcry from those who understand coercion, threats and violence go along with the act of rape. The unpopular verdict became an international symbol of myth-based injustice for sexual assault victims. Taken from the University of California - Irvine, Campus Assault Resources and Education.