News and Updates

DENIM DAY

April 24, 2024

Health Education is observing DENIM DAY on April 24, 2024. We will be tabling during lunch at the Setzer Student Center at Lamar University in honor of Denim Day. We invite faculty, staff, and students to wear jeans on Denim Day, and invite students to stop by our tabling to grab SA awareness and prevention education and giveaways.

Health Education will be hosting a Forensic Nurse from a local hospital who will be tabling alongside us. She will be educating students on what happens after an SA experience, how to reach out for a medical exam, what to expect, and how to begin to heal after such an event. We are so grateful for this guest, so come out and meet her and learn something new!

Check out more details on LUHub

THE HISTORY

What Is Denim Day?

Denim Day is an internationally recognized day each year that falls on the last Wednesday of April. The campaign that is run by Peace over Violence based in Los Angeles, began after a ruling by the Italian Parliament where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim "was wearing tight jeans she must have helped the person who raped her remove her jeans, thereby implying consent."

Following this ruling, 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, what started as a local campaign to bring awareness to victim blaming and destructive myths that surround sexual violence has grown into a movement. As the longest running sexual violence prevention and education campaign in history, Denim Day asks community members, elected officials, businesses and students to make a social statement with their fashion statement by wearing jeans on this day as a visible means of protest against the misconceptions that surround sexual violence.

GET INVOLVED

How Do I Participate?

Set a reminder to wear denim on 4/24/24
Download our social media kit to spread awareness
Take a group picture of your team wearing denim to show support, and submit it to be publicized!

Most importantly: Remind others about this important campaign. Share information on social media, with your network, via email, and in conversation with your friends and loved ones.

Submit Your Photos for Denim Day

Get the Media & Action Kit

Add Reminder to Calendar

Ways to Support

Challenge your knowledge-base; spread education and awareness.

Recognize that sexual assault impacts everyone
Sexual assault does not discriminate between age, gender, expression, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, or even relationship status.
Sexual assault can and does occur in marriages. Marriage does not imply consent.
Nobody deserves to be a victim of SA, no matter what.
Some people prefer the term survivor, others may prefer the term victim. People can choose their own terminology that helps them feel comfort, validation, and/or healing. It can be a spectrum that an SA survivor progresses through over time at their own pace.
Don't blame victims or survivors for the violence inflicted on them.
Seek resources that can provide medical help, psychological help, and social help and support. These all may be different resources and may look different in each situation.
Speak up when someone makes a comment about survivors or victims to challenge the status-quo.
Know when to ask for help or provide resources to someone in need.
Think critically about how sexual violence, victim blaming, and consent are perpetuated in the media. Challenge your ideas and don't be afraid to stand up for what is right.
There is no timeline for healing or recovering. Everyone is different.
Share the mantra that "No." is a complete sentence, and silence does not equal consent.