In 1992 an 18 year old Italian woman was picked up by her 45 year old, married driving instructor. He took her to a secluded area where he sexually assaulted her. She immediately reported the crime and her attacker was convicted and sentenced to prison. In 1998 an Italian Supreme Court decision overturned the conviction because... wait for it... she was wearing tight jeans.
The court ruled that because her jeans were so tight there was no way her attacker could have gotten them off with out her assistance, even though she testified that he wrestled one leg out in order to assualt her, making the encounter consentual.
Immediately women in the Italian Parliment protested the decision by wearing jeans to work and similar protests sprung up across the world the first Denim Day was celebrated in April of 1999 in California.
For years we've been hearing the flimsy reasoning of officials blaming & punishing victims for crimes committed against them:
- Women can avoid sexual assault by not dressing like a "slut".
- Don't wear skirts if you don't want to be targeted
These are all incidents that occured in so-called civilized progressive countries. I didn't mention countries where it's almost always a woman's fault if she is assaulted. She can face imprisonment, death or be forced to marry her attacker.
Let's use Denim Day to bring awareness sexual assualt crimes. Let's support and not blame victims and encourage them to report. Let's support bills that provided stiffer penalties for sexual assault and repudiate ones that make it easier for perpetrators to commit these crimes without impunity.
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