Peconic Bay Zonta’s Mona Rowe (fourth from left) joined the Zonta Club of Leilehua in marking Denim Day on April 27, 2022.
What is Denim Day?
In 1992, in Italy, an 18-year-old girl was raped by her 45-year-old driving instructor. He went to jail but began a lengthy appeal process, claiming that the sex was consensual.
Years later, the case made it to the Italian Supreme Court, which overturned the conviction, setting free the perpetrator. A statement from the Court argued that “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, women in the Italian Parliament launched a protest, gathering on the steps of the Supreme Court wearing jeans. This act of advocacy captured international media, and Denim Day is now marked all over the world on the last Wednesday of April.
On April 27, 2022, Rowe, wearing jeans, talked to everyone she encountered about Denim Day, the absurdity of the overturned sentence, and how there is no excuse for rape and never an invitation to rape.
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