Peace Over Violence is proud to present the 9th Annual Denim Day in LA 2007, a campaign to raise awareness and educate the public about rape and sexual assault. The UCLA Clothesline Project will sponsor an event in Meyerhoff Park to support Denim Day.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Meyerhoff Park
UCLA campus
Los Angeles, CA 90095

WEDNESDAY is DENIM DAY  -- all day!
So wear jeans, get your friends to wear jeans, and join the UCLA Clothesline Project from 11 am - 2 pm in Meyerhoff Park.  Denim Day is a day of international protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault.  Get educated.  Raise awareness.  Wear jeans.
 
http://www.denimdayinla.org/

Denim Day in LA
Peace Over Violence is proud to present the 9th Annual Denim Day in LA 2007, a campaign to raise awareness and educate the public about rape and sexual assault. It takes place on Wednesday April 25, 2007.

In 1998 an Italian Supreme Court decision overturned a rape conviction because the victim wore jeans. People all over the world were outraged. Wearing jeans became an international symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault.

Last year on Denim Day an unprecedented 250,000 people signed up to wear jeans in support of raising awareness about the need to end sexual violence. This year the goal is to at least double that amount.

This day in the schools, offices and streets of Los Angeles County people are uniting against rape of girls, women, boys and men. Stand in support of survivors. Break the silence to end sexual violence.

On Denim Day in LA wear your jeans as a visible sign of protest against the myths that still surround sexual assault!

About Denim Day in LA
Every year since 1999 Peace Over Violence has organized Denim Day in L.A. It is a rape prevention education campaign, where we ask community members, elected officials, businesses and students to make a social statement with their fashion statement and on this day wear jeans as a visible means of protest against misconceptions that surround sexual assault.

Because …
-- Less than a decade ago Italian judges did not convict a rapist because the victim wore jeans.
-- Every two and a half minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted.
-- One in six American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape.
-- According to the Los Angeles Police Department, there were 1,117 rapes during the year 2003, with only 260 rape suspects arrested.
-- 82.8% of rapes committed by an intimate are not reported to the police.
-- 35% of college men who voluntarily participated in psychological research conducted at several universities indicated they might commit a rape if they knew they could get away with it.
-- Two million children around the world are forced into prostitution every year.
-- Law enforcement arrests for Internet sex crimes against minors is on the rise.
-- 15,000 to 19,000 people with developmental disabilities are raped each year in North America.
-- Survivors deserve support and assistance, not shame and blame.
-- We want to build healthy relationships, families and communities free from sexual, domestic and interpersonal violence.

Join the members of the UCLA Clothesline Project in supporting this campaign of awareness and education by wearing jeans on Wednesday and join them in Meyerhoff Park!

For more information about the UCLA Clothesline Project and info about the UCLA Women for Change Week, May 14 - 19, visit http://www.women4change.ucla.edu/clothesline.htm
Other info about the UCLA Clothesline Project, visit http://www.thecenter.ucla.edu/clothesmid.html

About the national Clothesline Project:
The Clothesline Project (CLP) is a program started on Cape Cod, MA, in 1990 to address the issue of sexual, gender-based, and domestic violence.

According to the Men's Rape Prevention Project in Washington DC, 58,000 soldiers died in the Vietnam War. During that same period of time, 51,000 women were killed, mostly by men who supposedly loved them. In the summer of 1990, that statistic became the catalyst for a coalition of women's groups on Cape Cod, Massachusetts to consciously develop a program that would educate, break the silence and bear witness to one issue - violence against women.

One of the women, visual artist Rachel Carey-Harper, moved by the power of the AIDS quilt, presented the concept of using shirts - hanging on a clothesline - as the vehicle for raising awareness about this issue. The idea of using a clothesline was a natural. Doing the laundry was always considered women's work and in the days of close-knit neighborhoods, women often exchanged information over backyard fences while hanging their clothes out to dry. In breaking the silence, we are all airing out our dirty laundry; raising awareness about the stories and issues no one wants to talk about.

The concept was simple - let people tell their story in their own unique way, using words and/or artwork to decorate their shirt. Once finished, they would then hang their shirt on the clothesline. This very action serves many purposes. It acts as an educational tool for those who come to view the Clothesline. It becomes a healing tool for anyone who makes a shirt - by hanging the shirt on the line, survivors, friends and family can literally turn their back on some of the pain of their experience and walk away. Finally, it allows those who are still suffering in silence to understand that they are not alone.

There are approximately 500 projects nationally and internationally with an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 shirts  --  projects in 41 states and 5 countries. This ever-expanding grassroots network is as far-flung as Tanzania and an ever-growing voice on many high school and college campuses.

Cost : Free and open to the public; parking is available for $8.

www.denimdayinla.org

Sponsor(s): UCLA Clothesline Project, Peace Over Violence. Information about non-ASC events is posted for informational purposes and does not necessarily reflect opinions of or endorsements by African Studies personnel.