Contact: Georgia Clarke
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State University students and faculty, as well as local community members, elected officials and businesses are asked to wear and donate denim on April 29 as part of Denim Day, an annual event recognizing Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Denim Day, sponsored by MSU's Department of Health Education and Wellness, will take place April 29 from 10 a.m.-2p.m. on the Drill Field, with rain moving the event to the first floor of the Colvard Student Union. Denim donations will be collected to benefit Safe Haven, Inc., a local shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The first 130 people to donate a pair of jeans will receive a free t-shirt.
The Denim Day campaign was prompted by a ruling from the Italian Supreme Court when they overturned a rape conviction claiming that the victim was wearing tight jeans and must have helped her rapist remove them, thereby implying consent. In reaction to the verdict, women in the Italian Parliament wore jeans to work the following day to show their support of the victim.
Denim Day has thence become a visible symbol of protest against destructive misconceptions surrounding sexual assault.
If you or someone you know is sexually assaulted, call for help immediately. Further guidelines can be found at www.health.msstate.edu/sas/reporting.
To learn more about the Denim Day campaign visit www.denimdayinfo.org.
MSU, the Magnolia State's flagship research university, is online at www.msstate.edu, facebook.com/msstate, instagram.com/msstate and twitter.com/msstate.