Treat Every Day Like Denim Day: a Stand Against Sexual Violence

Treat Every Day Like Denim Day: a Stand Against Sexual Violence

By: Allison Peters

            For the past 17 years, one Wednesday in April has been chosen as Denim Day in support of Sexual Violence Awareness Month.  This year, April 27, 2016, was selected to be that day. At Albright College, people seen wearing jeans flooded the campus in honor of the cause.

            The campaign for Peace Over Violence was originally triggered due to a rape conviction that was overturned by the Italian Supreme Court. The reason was because the victim had been wearing tight jeans at the time lead up to her rape, so she, allegedly, must have had to help her rapist remove them in the first place, proving his innocence by implying consent.

            In the United States, nearly every one in five women has been raped. Almost half of all women have experienced some type of sexual assault. Over the course of their career, around 25 percent of women on college campuses will fall victim to rape.

            “You will barely ever see me wearing jeans. This is a big deal for me to be out and about today not in shorts or leggings, but it’s for a great cause,” Albright College student, Julia Barry, said.

            Barry said it was a very small price to pay to raise awareness.

            “I remember coming to Albright as a senior in high school and having my dad as ask the tour guide, ‘How safe is the campus?’ I was so embarrassed. My guide said something about it being really safe and not to worry,” Barry said.

            Although, Barry said there has been more than a couple times where she’s felt like she was followed or being harassed on campus.

            “Last week I was standing over by one of the campus dorm buildings talking to one of my friends, who is a girl. These guys came by in a car and started mocking us, making ‘kissy-faces’ and even when we asked them to stop they kept going. They almost got into a car accident because they weren’t paying attention,” Barry said.

            When asked if the men in the car were people she knew, she said no.

Photo Credit: Albright College

            “It was a form of sexual harassment and it’s not right. It’s not fair that, as a woman, I have to be afraid of men…I hate running outside because I’m just yelled at by men in cars,” Barry said.

            Last year Albright College took place in a nationwide campaign against sexual assault on college campuses. This campaign was called “It’s On Us.” It encourages students to recognize what sexual assault is, identify situations it could happen, intervene if it does happen, and to further create an environment where it is unacceptable.

            KaitlynRockwell, Vice President of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, helped make a video to spread awareness at Albright and across the internet.

            “To make the video, we asked any student-athlete to help...It ended up being really inspiring…I actually cried a little when I watched the whole thing through for the first time,” Rockwell said.

            The video was published on April 6, 2015 and is titled “Albright Athletics’ It’s On Us,” and can be seen on YouTube.

            “Last time I checked it had almost a thousand views…personally I consider that amazing…The video only took a day to shoot, and a few days to edit and put together…and because of it people are now more aware of sexual assault,” Rockwell said.

            The best part of making the video, she said, was that she likes to think it could make not just Albright’s campus safer, but others as well.

            “I’m really happy to say that I’ve never been the victim to anything horrible like [sexual assault],” Albright student, Samantha Hand, said.

            Hand said she found out this article was being written, and wanted to share a story of one of her close friends.

            “When I was at a party…at another school, my one friend drank too much and ended up nearly passing out on a couch...I was about to take her home when some guy I’d never seen went over to her on the couch and put his arm around her,” Hand said.

            It was someone her friend had never seen before either, Hand said.

            “Luckily I was there to take her home…she still thanks me to this day…she doesn’t know what could have happened and she really doesn’t want to guess,” Hand said.

            Thanks to Hand’s fast thinking and good judgement, she got her friend out of a possibly really bad situation.

            “It definitely reminded me of the video we made…“It’s On Us,” which I got to be in as a student-athlete at Albright…I recognized a situation and intervened…it’s what everyone should do,” Hand said.