During this final week of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we focus on how we can help prevent sexual assault and support survivors.

You can support survivors by participating in Wednesday’s National Denim Day sponsored by SGA and supporting Prairie Center Against Sexual Assault. A minimum $5 donation purchases a jeans day sticker, and donations are now being accepted in the LLCC Student Life office and Outreach Center locations.

According to the Rape. Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), the Denim Day story begins in Italy almost 30 years ago, when an 18-year old girl was raped while wearing a pair of denim jeans. At the time of the assault, the perpetrator was arrested and prosecuted, but years later, he appealed the conviction claiming they had consensual sex. The Italian Supreme Court released the perpetrator, asserting that because the survivor was wearing tight jeans, she had to have assisted in their removal, thereby implying consent. Infuriated by the verdict, and the victim blaming that accompanied it, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work the following day wearing denim in order to protest. This protest was the inspiration and catalyst for the first Denim Day, which grew into an American tradition thanks to our friends at Peace Over Violence in Los Angeles.

Now, Denim Day is the longest running sexual violence education campaign in history. For the past 23 years, survivors and supporters alike rally together on a Wednesday in April to stand against victim blaming and protest the misinformation that surrounds sexual violence. The campaign does not simply support survivors who have experienced sexual violence while wearing denim jeans; it reminds everyone that regardless of what you are wearing, consent is never implied.

Additional information and resources on sexual assault are available on LLCC’s website. You may also contact Nikki Baker, compliance and prevention coordinator, at nikki.baker@llcc.edu or 217-786-3426.