Some students, faculty and staff at Ball State will wear jeans to make more than a fashion statement today. They will be participating in Denim Day to raise awareness as a rape prevention education campaign.
Erin Snyder, a psychologist at the Ball State Counseling Center, said it is a "fun way to raise awareness and get people to talk about why [they are wearing] jeans." Buttons will be available at the Counseling Center and at the health education office in the Amelia T. Wood Health Center for students to wear. It is the first time the Counseling Center invited students to participate in Denim Day.
The movement was started in 1999 in Los Angeles, an 18-year-old woman was raped in Italy. Her attacker won his appeal because the chief judge said "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." Women who heard the news protested by wearing jeans to work, and the movement spread to the U.S.
At a college level, sexual assault is a danger, Snyder said. One out of every four women of college age is sexually assaulted in the U.S.
"We wanted to make sure we raise awareness about these statistics on campus to avoid this danger on campus," she said.
Denim Day is the last event on the Counseling Center's list for Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which is put together by the Counseling Center, the Health Center, Peace and Conflict Studies, Office of Student Rights and CommunityCstandards, Lambda Chi and Alpha Omicron Pi.
Snyder said attendance at their events has been high this month, and they are expecting to see the high attendance continue with people wearing denim today.
"I think as a campus we have a responsibility to prevent any violent act from happening," she said. "In bringing people together in a fun a peaceful way, we can prevent bad things from happening here on campus."
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