The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) and The Children’s Cabinet participated in this important national event on Wednesday, April 27th, to raise awareness during national sexual violence awareness month, and to continue the conversation about sexual violence.
One in five women have been victims of rape or attempted rape and half of those occurred with an intimate partner.
“We often hear in the media about stranger sexual assault, yet the majority of victims are assaulted by someone they know,” said Danielle Pugh-Markie, Program Director, Program Development and Judicial Engagement for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
First Lady Kathleen Sandoval encouraged all Nevadans to join the campaign against sexual assault by wearing denim.
The campaign was originally triggered by a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she must have helped her rapist remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. Peace Over Violence developed the Denim Day campaign in response to this case and the activism surrounding it. Since then, wearing jeans on Denim Day has become a symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault. In this rape prevention education campaign we ask community members, elected officials, businesses and students to make a social statement with their fashion by wearing jeans on this day as a visible means of protest against the misconceptions that surround sexual assault.