The United Way of Lamar County joins other United Ways and nonprofits across the nation for the annual Denim Day. This year’s Denim Day is Wednesday, April 24th. Everyone is encouraged to wear jeans to support sexual assault victims.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. A few quick statistics:
· 35 percent of women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lives (
· Every 92 seconds, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. That means there are 321,500 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year in the United States
· At least 1 in 6 men have been sexually abused or assaulted, whether in childhood or as adults
For the past 20 years, the nonprofit Peace Over Violence has led a Denim Day campaign in April, in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This year, Denim Day is Wednesday, April 24.
It’s the third year that United Way Worldwide has participated in the #DenimDay campaign, and the first year for the United Way of Lamar County to promote it.
Denim Day first started 20 years ago when the Italian Supreme Court ruled that a woman’s rape must have been consensual because her jeans were so tight that she had to help remove them for her perpetrator (who was then acquitted). In protest, women in the Italian Parliament wore jeans to work the next day.
Peace Over Violence developed the Denim Day campaign the next year. Since then, wearing jeans on Denim Day has become a symbol of protest against destructive attitudes about sexual harassment, abuse, assault and rape.
Anyone can be sexually assaulted. People of all genders, all ages, all ethnicities, all socioeconomic levels and all sexual orientations can be sexually assaulted.
On Wednesday, show your support for survivors of sexual assault by wearing denim.
If you or someone you know is looking for local mental health resources or survivor support, call 2-1-1 or call Safe-T at 903-783-1313.
#DenimDay #UWDenimDay
