Whew! Its been a long couple weeks. Let me take a quick breather here for a sec. Take in the Breathe of Life. In & out. Just like the tides. Out with the old, in with the new. Aloha & Happy Denim Day! Today marks the 18th anniversary of Denim Day, a international campaign of strength, support, and solidarity with Survivors of sexual assault.
The movement has its roots in both Los Angeles & Italy, when the Italian Supreme Court overturned a ruling that sentenced a sexual predator to jail, allowing the assailant to go free, unscathed without punishment. The young woman he sexually assaulted was 18 years old learning how to drive. As her driving instructor, he directed her to an isolated road where he removed one leg of her jeans and proceeded to violently rape her. There was no justice for this young woman, and the court’s ruling to overturn a guilty verdict & dismissal of the case succeeded only in blaming the victim for her own sexual assault. The judge argued that because the victim had been wearing very tight jeans she must have helped the assailant to remove one leg & therefore the assault was no longer rape, rather consensual sex. Ridiculous since we know beyond a doubt that consent requires active participation & cannot be forced to manipulation or coercion. When we take into account the fact that it was the young woman’s first driving lesson, and the 45 year old instructor took advantage of someone he perceived to have dominance & authority abused his use of power to hurt, take & abuse his student. Who knows how many other people he has inflicted harm upon, before & after. And what of the young woman who was likely traumatized after having only just begun to take advantage of mobility, public space, and responsible practices in transportation.
The spark that caused a wildfire, the Women of the Italian Parliament protested the overturned ruling wearing denim jeans to work in national solidarity with the survivor of the assault. The fire quickly spread to California where Peace Over Violence Executive Director Patti Giggans flew in action, organizing the first Denim Day in 1999. Today, we continue to gear up & rock our Denim for the cause.
I’ve been wearing jeans for a long time, and quite often, tight body-sculpting, figure hugging jeans. I personally like the look & feel of denim, and it gives me a sense of empowerment that I’m a rough & rowdy American Grrrl - a Rebel with a Feminist Cause. Its a personal thing, and no one should ever have to fear that their choice in clothing is an invitation to rape. There is no excuse for sexual abuse, and what a person consciously or unconsciously adorns their body in should never be used to absolve the violence of another against their personhood.
It was this line of thinking that originally brought me to the community space of Peace Over Violence in Los Angeles. Ironically enough, I had been serving on a jury at the Metropolitan courthouse in downtown L.A. when I heard about an open reading of the Victim Impact Statement of Emily Doe at the POV offices. Emily Doe is a pseudonym or alias of a young woman who was violently sexually assaulted by Brock Turner, a Stanford athletic swimmer. Strikingly reminiscent of the Italian Supreme Court that gave a slap on the wrist to a violent predator, a California judged passed down a ruling that sentenced Turner to six months in jail, only to turn around a lessen it to three months. Turner had been found guilty by jury after having dragged an unconscious Doe outside of a college party, removing her underwear, and exposing her breasts. He was discovered by two bicyclists who witnessed the assailant aggressively forcing his body on top of the immobile victim behind a trash dumpster, inserting fingers into her genital orifices. Doe was inebriated past the point of consent and had made no express declarations to engage in sexual activity.
This is symptomatic of rape culture, which excuses violent predatory behaviors of rapist & sexual assailants who use alcohol as an attempt to lure people into a state of unconscious hallucinations & intoxicated delirium. Because Brock Turner is a white male & star athlete on scholarship at the prestigious Stanford University, he received a pass, a benefit of white hetereo-patriarchal privilege. In order to receive full, transformative justice, we need to address the court systems that criminalizes the masses, prosecutes the many, but gives privileged white males passes to rape, abuses, and excuse violent behaviors against women & children.
This is why we do the work, because we cannot stand to see & witness any more people be abused by a system that blames victims for their own sexual assault & harassment, while training predators how abuse there power over others rape & destroy. We refuse to partake & participate in violent cultures, and in order to do so, we must speak up & out to protect our communities & our bodies.
For me personally, its about creating a culture of mutual respect & love, nurturing communities based on healthy consensual relationships free of violence. I am lucky to have built a strong relationship with my partner over years of trial & error, cultivating our love in rich soils of communication, collaboration, compromise & commitment. Healthy relationships take active work, and they’re not always easy. But when we allow ourselves to be fully engaged in creating something special, love has a way of disrupting old outdated patterns of sexuality, building new paths to erotic sensuality outside the pornographic, and yielding enjoyable fun interactions where both partners experience the joys of sex. Yes, its possible to break the cycle of violence — by engaging in shared dialogue, open conversation, and teaching moments, we can build & create a world where rape is no longer used as a weapon of war, manipulation, and sexual exploitation.
Are you ready to do this work? If so, Gear Ûp & Speak Öut 4 Denim Day, happening today, April 26th, 2017, in cities across the nation! If you’re in Los Angeles, join us on the steps of City Hall at 9 am for a DD Press Conference with Patti Giggans & Mayor Eric Garcetti. Make a statement in your jeans by rocking them threads at a free concert in Santa Monica in collaboration with the GUESS Foundation. Peace Over Violence spokes-couple & musical artists Maya Jupiter & Aloe Blacc will be taking the stage at 6 pm to raise consciousness & inspire creativity about how to get engaged in the movement to end sexual violence & promote peace in all our interpersonal & international relationships. Can't make it out to an event? Thats okay. Take to social media & make the Denim Day Promise to take action against sexual violence by using the hashtags #NoExcuse #DenimDay on Twitter @PeaceOvrViolence and Instagram @PeaceOvrViolence. Getting live stream updates on Snapchat @peaceovrviolnce & GUESSsnaps, or make a donation with Dollars for Denim by texting DenimDay to 71777. So what are you waiting for? Raise your Voice now & button up your jeans with a purpose. In order to rise above it, we have to be a part of making that change. Remember, if we don’t speak out, who will?
"Violence is preventable. If we can learn it, we can unlearn it.
Violence is not healthy for people and other living things. If we can see it, we can stop it.
Silence is violence. If we can talk about it, we can change it."