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CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) Participate in Denim Day by wearing jeans on April 24 in recognition of Denim Day as part of  a rape prevention education campaign.

Make a social statement with your fashion on Wednesday wear jeans as a visible means of protest against misconceptions that surround sexual assault.

The story below occurred in Italy in the 1990’s and resulted in a protest and a day of recognition.

An 18-year old girl is picked up by her married 45-year old driving instructor for her very first lesson. He takes her to an isolated road, pulls her out of the car, wrestles her out of one leg of her jeans and forcefully rapes her. Threatened with death if she tells anyone, he makes her drive the car home. Later that night she tells her parents, and they help and support her to press charges. The perpetrator gets arrested and is prosecuted. He is convicted of rape and sentenced to jail.

He appeals the sentence. The case makes it’s all the way to the Italian Supreme Court. Within a matter of days the case against the driving instructor is overturned, dismissed, and the perpetrator released. In a statement by the Chief Judge, he argued, “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, within a matter of hours the women in the Italian Parliament launched into immediate action and protested by wearing jeans to work.

The first Denim Day in LA was held in 1999 by the California Senate and Assembly and Peace Over Violence, and has continued every year since.