City Hall recognizes Denim Day
ROCKFORD — Today, the City of Rockford and United Way of Rock River Valley, along with organizations across the country, is recognizing Denim Day.
The Denim Day campaign was originally triggered by a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she must have helped her rapist remove her jeans, thereby implying consent.
The next day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. Since then, wearing jeans on Denim Day has become a symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault.
As part of the city’s focus on preventing domestic violence and human trafficking in our community, Mayor Tom McNamara and Manager Jennifer Cacciapaglia asked city staff to wear jeans to work on Wednesday, April 25.
The city and the United Way are also hoping other organizations will support the Denim Day effort by wearing jeans and posting photos on social media using #UWDenimDay and #815DenimDay. R.