April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. To help raise awareness of sexual assault and to support survivors the Wellness Center has partnered with the Mental Health Association’s Sexual Assault Prevention & Advocacy Program (SAPA) to celebrate National Denim Day on Wednesday, April 24^th.

Denim Day is an annual day of awareness encouraging people to wear denim in support of survivors and to protest sexual violence in our community and worldwide. We ask community members to make a social statement with their fashion statement and wear jeans as a visible means of protest against misconceptions that surround sexual assault.

Wear your jeans with a purpose!

Let us know you’re wearing jeans in support of Denim Day and our Camera Crew will stop by your office or classroom to snap a photo of you in your denim for our event collage. Get together with your colleagues for a group photo. Or stop by the Wellness Center in the Shepard Student Center to have your photo taken between 9 am and 4 pm. You may also send us a selfie: wellnesscenter@sunyorange.edu. All participants will receive a special button for their efforts stating “My Jeans Protest Violence.” 

Sign up here.

About Denim Day

For the past 24 years, Peace Over Violence has run its Denim Day campaign on a Wednesday in April in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. 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.

To learn more about the history of Denim Day visit their website.

Contact for Help: Wellness Center (845) 341-4870; Title IX Coordinator Madeline Torres-Diaz (845) 341-4407, SAPA 24/7 Hotline (800) 832-1200