Denim Day raises awareness of ‘victim blaming' during Sexual Assault Awareness Month
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, with the last Wednesday of every April being known as Denim Day. It's not just a day to show off your favorite jeans, it's a day to raise awareness about sexual assault, and speak out against victim blaming.
But to understand why we have Denim Day now, we first must go back to Italy in 1998, when a high-profile rape trial saw a shocking development, years after the original decision.
The conviction was overturned.
A list of the largest settlements reached by organizations and victims of sexual abuse
The appealed decision was based on the defendant's account that the victim's jeans were so tight he couldn't have removed them himself, implying consent.
'Shortly after that, women showed up to the Italian parliament in jeans,' said Open Door Network CEO Lauren Skidmore.
The gesture started a movement that went worldwide, and years later, Los Angeles-based organization Peace Over Violence established Denim Day. Now, according to Peace Over Violence, millions worldwide wear denim on the last Wednesday in April to protest.
'It really is an opportunity for us to stand with victims of sexual assault and try to reduce victim shaming that happens every single day,' said Skidmore.
Victims like Carrie Blind, who moved past her pain and now owns a salon in downtown Bakersfield. Like many others, she had her own issues with victim blaming.
'I was sexually assaulted by two, possibly three men at the same time,' she said.
'When it comes to Denim Day and talking about victim blaming, it's very difficult sometimes as a survivor to be taken seriously, because there are accusations of sexual abuse that are made up,' Blind said.
1st Kern County defendant convicted under Prop 36 sentenced
'No one wants to believe that their brother or their friend or their son has the capability of assaulting someone sexually. So absolutely, there's lot of blaming of victims that happens like 'what was she wearing, what did she say, what did she do, how did she allude to the fact that she gave him permission to do something like that?''
And so the denim isn't just a fashion trend. It's a stance. A stance defending those who have suffered enough already.
'For so long I felt so ugly. I felt so terrible about myself that I didn't want to be seen in a community, I didn't want people to know that I had experience what I had experienced,' said Blind. 'Now being able to participate in Denim Days, it makes a difference. It gives all of us survivors an opportunity to stand up and say, 'yes, this happened to me.''
If you are a victim of sexual violence, you're not alone. Call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673, or visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network's website at RAINN.org.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
39 minutes ago
- Washington Post
L.A. Dodgers, facing fan pressure, pledge $1M after immigration raids
Facing growing pressure to speak out against federal immigration raids in the area, the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday unveiled a $1 million commitment toward assisting families affected by the enforcement action. 'What's happening in Los Angeles has reverberated among thousands upon thousands of people, and we have heard the calls for us to take a leading role on behalf of those affected,' Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten said in a statement announcing the pledge. 'We believe that by committing resources and taking action, we will continue to support and uplift the communities of Greater Los Angeles.' The pledge comes one day after protesters arrived at Dodger Stadium to challenge federal agents who had staged in unmarked SUVs outside the facility. The team said it blocked federal authorities from accessing the stadium's parking lots. The Department of Homeland Security said the incident 'had nothing to do with the Dodgers' and the vehicles 'were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement.' The incident proved to be a flash point for immigrant community leaders and advocacy groups who've been urging the Dodgers and team owner Mark Walter to publicly denounce recent raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the greater Los Angeles area. Federal agents carrying out workplace sweeps have in recent weeks targeted car washes, Home Depot and a clothing wholesaler, sparking protests. But as demonstrators poured into the streets protesting President Donald Trump's immigration policy and local officials clashed with the federal government, the L.A. Dodgers, which enjoys broad support from the city's Latino community, remained silent. A petition started by local unions and civic leaders on Friday called on the Dodgers to support community organizations defending immigrant families and ensure team property isn't used for immigration enforcement. 'As ICE raids escalate across the city, parents are being torn from their children. Communities are living in fear. Latino families — who make up 40% of the Dodgers' fan base and contribute $300 million in annual revenue — deserve more than silence,' the petition reads. 'Other teams — Angel City FC and LAFC — have already spoken out. The Dodgers must do the same.' Last week, singer and social media influencer Nezza sang a version of the national anthem in Spanish before a Dodgers home game while wearing a Dominican Republic shirt — against the team's wishes. Nezza said she sang 'El Pendón Estrellado' — a Spanish rendition of the 'Star Spangled Banner' — in protest of the raids. 'I didn't think I would be met with any sort of 'no,' especially because we're in L.A. and with everything happening,' Nezza said in a video posted to her TikTok account, breaking down in tears. 'But today out of all days, I just could not believe when [the Dodgers employee] walked in and told me 'no.' But I just felt like I needed to do it para mi gente [for my people].' Until Friday, the team had generally been quiet about the unrest in the city, while others had spoken out. Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts told reporters earlier this month he hoped the team could be 'a positive distraction' for people. Last week, he said, 'I know that when you're having to bring people in and deport people, all the unrest, it's certainly unsettling for everyone, but I haven't dug enough and can't speak intelligently on it.' Dodgers player Kiké Hernández wrote on Instagram that he is 'saddened and infuriated by what's happening in our country and our city.' 'This is my second home. And I cannot stand to see our community being violated, profiled, abused and ripped apart. ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights,' wrote Hernandez, who is from Puerto Rico. He punctuated his post with #CityOfImmigrants. Friday's $1 million commitment is the team's first public response to the ICE raids. 'It's always a great moment when Los Angeles comes together to defend, support, and assist its most valuable asset — its residents, regardless of immigration status,' Jorge-Mario Cabrera, a spokesman for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, wrote in an email statement responding to the Dodgers aid pledge. 'We applaud initiatives that focus on the mos[t] immediate needs of the hundreds if not thousands of families impacted which includes legal counsel, information and referrals, mental health, health emergencies, rent, and other basic needs.'
Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Haiti's presidential council confirms use of mercenaries in anti-gang fight
The head of Haiti's presidential transition panel acknowledged for the first time the government's use of foreign contractors to help in the fight against armed gangs. But Fritz Alphonse Jean, in an interview he afforded a group of five local Haitian journalists on Friday, declined to provide details on the private security firm including how much Haiti's dysfunctional transitional government is paying for the service and the group's obligations under the contract. The presence of foreign mercenaries in Haiti's anti-gang fight and the lack of transparency around the players, most notably the former head of Blackwater, Erik Prince, and the rules of engagement, have been raising concerns both inside the country and in international circles since the group was first tied to the dropping of weaponized, explosive drones into gangs' strongholds by an equally opaque government task force. 'When there is a weakness, we look for other people to support the national police,' Jean said. 'The money that is being spent, the resources that are being poured in, are that of the population.' Last month, after the government's private security firm deal went public, the Port-au-Prince-based human rights group Fondasyon Je Klere/Eyes Wide Open Foundation demanded that authorities inform 'the population about the duration and amount of the contract' and the mercenaries' obligations to limit the collateral damage against innocent civilians. On Friday, while Jean assumed his and the government's role in seeking out international support 'to help the security forces move forward,' he would neither confirm nor deny reports that the government was paying $44 million. 'I cannot answer that question,' he told Radio Kiskeya's Marvel Dandin when he opened the questioning about the contract and reports that the government had employed Blackwater, the controversial private military contractor that was involved in a deadly civilian massacre in Iraq in 2007, in its gang fight. 'Blackwater hasn't existed for a long time, but there is someone who was with Blackwater whom they've seen in Haiti,' Jean said, declining to cite Prince's name or that of his new firm, which is overseeing the dropping of explosive drones by a Haitian government task force. 'What I can assure everyone is with this level of violence compounded by what they call transnational criminality .... it is simply not true that our security forces can confront these challenges alone.' Jean's interview comes at a pivotal time. More than year into its existence, the nine-member Presidential Transitional Council, which is tasked with governing the country and leading it back to democratic order, is consumed by infighting and dysfunction. Their public bickering and lack of cohesion is fueling frustrations and disappointment both inside and out of Haiti at a moment when any solution to the security crisis on the international front appears to be stalled. U.S. officials, outside of saying they cannot keep shouldering the cost of an international armed mission led by Kenya, have yet to say what their policy on Haiti will be and a U.N. Security Council, presented with a proposal by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres back in February, has yet to make a decision. Meanwhile, armed gangs continue to escalate their violence, leading to 1.3 million people now being displaced. Demanding government action after gangs recently took over their town, angry residents in the city of Mirebalais decided to plunge Port-au-Prince into blackout this week by dismantling a transmission tower at the main power plant in central Haiti. The sabotage of the Péligre hydroelectric plant, its second in weeks, is just one action in a list of crises that has Haiti on edge. Jean acknowledged the frustrations and said soon the people will see a scale up in the security response. He did not go into details, but several people close to the government have pointed to the increased use of weaponized drones. Such use has raised concerns both inside and out of the country about the legality of their use and the possible collateral damages. Already, armed gangs have tried to either create their own or purchase them. Three Haitians were recently arrested in the Dominican Republic and turned over to the Haitian police authorities after they were caught trying to purchase drones in the neighboring country, the Haitian police recently confirmed. Weeks earlier, the Miami Herald confirmed that a gang member had died at a hospital after he arrived with over 90% burns after he tried to create his own weaponized drones. Fate of Kenyan-led mission remains unknown Though Haitians only recently learned about the mercenaries' presence after armed gangs began confirming the use of weaponized, kamikaze drones against them, the Herald was informed in February about Prince's presence. He had an initial contract, a source said with the government but didn't sign a more extensive one until last month. State Department officials have said they have no involvement in the company's hiring, though sources with knowledge say given the aversion of U.S. officials in the past to the use of private security firms in the fight, they do not see how Prince's involvement in Haiti could have happened without an OK from Washington. Either way, Prince's arrival on the scene in Haiti coincides with both escalating violence by armed gangs that now control up to 90% of Port-au-Prince while extending to other regions, and ongoing uncertainty about the fate of the armed international security response being led by Kenya. None of the journalists during the hour-and-a-half interview later broadcast by Jean's team asked about the Multinational Security Support mission. Wednesday will mark a year since the first contingent of about 200 Kenyan police officers first arrived in Haiti, and according to Kenyan authorities are due to be rotated out. What is unclear is whether the Kenyan police will be replaced. At issue is the U.S.-built military base where the approximately 1,000 members of the MSS are housed, and whether Washington will continue funding its operations. The U.S. had a deadline of this month for informing the contractor whether they will extend operations until at least March of next year. Neither the State Department, Pentagon nor MSS has responded to Herald inquiries about whether the payment, reportedly $200 million for six months, was made. Jeans pushes back on reports about 'unjustified privileges' Jean, a U.S.-educated economist and former head of Haiti's Central Bank, assumed the helm of the presidential council in March as part of the rotation presidency. He is due to be replaced in August by Laurent Saint-Cyr, who represents the private sector. Behind the scenes, the group has been engaged in a political battle over the strong possibility that the panel's mandate will come to an end without them realizing their primary mission: a newly elected president in office on Feb. 7, 2026, or a new constitution. A report by the National Human Rights Defense Network on the panel's one-year anniversary back in April, accused the transition of failing to fulfill any of its commitments regarding governance, 'systematically draining the state's coffers,' by among other things, appointing members to positions without regard for their qualifications, and receiving 'unjustified privileges.' The report cited at least 15 foreign trips by council members and government officials. In addition to noting the unresolved bank bribery corruption scandal involving three of the council's members, who continue to assert their innocence, the human rights report said there have been at least 13 massacres and armed attacks recorded in Haiti since the council was installed on April 25, 2024. 'The human and material losses recorded during these episodes of violence are immense,' the report said, noting that 4,405 people were murdered between April 2024 and March 2025 including 805 people the first three months of this year. The reporting period also saw at least 3,792 women and girls who were victims of sexual and gender-based violence, according to the combined data from the National Human Rights Defense Network and the feminine organizations, Nègès Mawon and the Solidarite Fanm Ayisyèn, SOFA; and the deaths of 31 Haiti National Police officers, eight soldiers from the Haitian Armed Forces, and two agents of the Multinational Security Support Mission. The period also saw the deaths of two journalists after armed gangs opened on them ahead of a government press conference, and multiple attacks against media companies. Jean didn't address the report directly, but said reports about members' privileges were a manipulation of figures. 'Since we are in a political campaign, they are utilizing this file as, what the Americans call, a 'smear campaign,' ' he said, without providing precision on the actual figures each of the nine presidential-counters are drawing. He also dismissed assertions that since the council has come into power, more territories have been lost to gangs. When challenged by Frantz Duval, the editor of the Nouvelliste, on his assessment that there was no political will to combat gangs before November, he doubled down despite his reading contradicting that of others, including foreign diplomats. They have repeatedly credited Haiti's national police force with preventing Port-au-Prince and the government from collapsing in March of 2024 when the country's most powerful gangs joined forces under the Viv Ansanm banner and carried out coordinated attacks across the capital in order to bring down the government. 'Everyone has to admit there are serious operations that the police is carrying out,' he said. 'They are fighting in Mirebalais, they are fighting in Kenscoff, they are in Delmas 30.'
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
California Gov. Gavin Newsom challenges Vice President JD Vance to debate: 'How about saying it to my face?'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom challenged Vice President JD Vance to face off in a debate. "Hey @JDVance — nice of you to finally make it out to California. Since you're so eager to talk about me, how about saying it to my face? Let's debate. Time and place?" the Democratic governor said in a Friday post on his @GavinNewsom X account. So far, the vice president has not replied on the social media platform to Newsom's challenge. Fox News Digital reached out to Vance's press team on Saturday, but did not receive a response by the time of publication. The vice president lambasted the Golden State governor and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass while delivering remarks in Los Angeles on Friday. Vance said that the governor "is endangering law enforcement," adding, "The law enforcement officials themselves tell me as much." Newsom communications director Izzy Gardon pushed back, calling Vance "a liar" in an email to Fox News Digital on Saturday. "Jose Vance is a liar. The Vice President's claim is categorically false. There is no evidence to support his made-up claim — and we challenge him to produce any. The Governor has consistently condemned violence, including against law enforcement officers, and has made his stance clear over and over again. Here are at least a dozen examples," Gardon wrote, providing a list of more than a dozen links to posts on the @CAgovernor X account. One of the posts reads, "Los Angeles: don't take Trump's bait. Trump wants chaos and he's instigated violence. Those who assault law enforcement or cause property damage will risk arrest. Stay peaceful. Stay focused. Don't give him the excuse he's looking for," Gardon's reference to "Jose Vance" seems to be a play on Vance's comment about "Jose Padilla" on Friday when apparently referring to U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif. "He knows my name," Padilla said during remarks Saturday on MSNBC, calling Vance's jab an "indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is."
