On April 24, 2024 millions of people across the world will wear jeans with a purpose, support survivors, and educate themselves and others about all forms of sexual violence.

Mount Holyoke will honor denim day on Friday, April 26, 2024. In support of sexual assault survivors everywhere, we encourage all members of our campus community to wear denim and visit the DEI Resource table in the Blanchard Campus Center.

The Denim Day campaign began after a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court in which 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. The following day, the 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.