ywrape crisis center: Denim Day in NJ 2011

The YWCA Rape Crisis Center partnered with several local high schools, businesses and community partners for Denim Day in NJ 2011. Events raised awareness about sexual violence, provided opportunities for our advocates to educate students about healthy relationships, and collected donations for the Dollars for Denim campaign.

For highlights about all the events click here.

Wearing jeans in April became an international symbol of protest in 1997, when the Italian Supreme Court overturned a rape conviction citing the victim’s tight jeans were impossible to remove without her consent. In response, women in the Italian Parliament protested by wearing jeans to work. The YWCA Bergen County Rape Crisis Center spearheaded efforts to adopt Denim Day in NJ in 2008, and in 2010 the state legislature designated it as an official statewide observance.