I'm a day late posting because... 4 kids :) But yesterday was Denim Day - the day we wear denim to remember and stand with a survivor in Italy who was raped at age 18 by her driving instructor. She reported it that day and went through the hell of trial. (thread) 
But in 1999, just two years before I walked into Larry's office, the rapist's conviction was overturned by the Italian Supreme Court, using what became known as the "denim defense". The SC wrote that the 18 year old certainly could not have been raped, because of her jeans.
Skinny jeans, the male justices reasoned, couldn't be taken off unless the victim had helped. They wrote "it is a fact of common experience that it is nearly impossible to slip off tight jeans even partly without the active collaboration of the person who is wearing them."
The rapist went free, and the horror the victim voluntarily went through to try to stop a violent offender, was for nothing. But the next day in Italy, women everywhere showed up to work in denim jeans. The first "Denim Day".
It was to show the survivor she wasn't alone. It was to send a message - abusers, and abusers alone, are responsible for their actions. It was to shine a light on rape culture. Ever since then, survivors all over the world have observed Denim Day.
One of the main purposes of choosing to write my book was to show what survivors go through when they report, and to show the team it takes, to stop a predator. When I wore denim yesterday, I felt the weight of what so many survivors have borne. I hope you do, too.
It took until 2008, barely a decade ago, before the Italian Supreme Court reversed the "denim defense". Until 2008, victims everywhere knew their clothes could be used as an official defense to rape. Victims everywhere know our clothes are still used as an "unofficial" defense.
So yesterday I wore denim, and I remembered. And I tell that survivor's story, so we learn from it, and do better the next time.
