Paint for Peace - Denim Day

Denim Day grew out of a 1989 Italian Supreme Court decision that overturned a rape conviction because the victim wore tight jeans. A young old girl is picked up by her married 45-year old driving instructor for her very first lesson. He takes her to an isolated road, pulls her out of the car, wrestles her out of one leg of her jeans, and forcefully rapes her. Threatened with death if she tells anyone, he makes her drive the car home. Later that night she tells her parents, and they help and support her to press charges. The perpetrator gets arrested and is prosecuted. He is convicted of rape and sentenced to jail.

 

He appeals to the sentence. The case makes it’s to the Italian Supreme Court. Within a matter of days, the case against the driving instructor is overturned, dismissed, and the perpetrator released. In a statement by the Chief Judge, he argued, “because the victim wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them, and by removing the jeans it was no longer rape but consensual sex.” Enraged by the verdict, within a matter of hours the women in the Italian Parliament launched into immediate action and protested by wearing jeans to work.

Join us and paint a denim quilt square for the quilt for survivors, and bring in a pair of jeans to paint and take home.

 

The $15 admission will help provide therapy for girls at Lad Lake who survived sex trafficking.

Light snacks and a cash bar serving beer, wine, and soda will be available for purchase.

Denim Day is more than a day, it is a movement.

Thanks for joining this movement with us.