There’s a new hashtag in Gilroy.
It’s popping up on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in an effort to remind the social media world that everyone has the right to look sexy in jeans without being accused of provoking rape.
“Just because I dress sexy does not mean I want sex! Non-consential sex (sic) is not okay!” wrote Desiree Mullenix Dye, who looked straight at the camera and smiled while toting a sign.
Gavilan College has celebrated Denim Day in collaboration with Community Solutions in the past. This year, however, is the first time people are participating in a social messaging photo contest using the hashtag: #DenimDayGavilan. Students and teachers are being asked to stand in front of a wall of decorated jeans holding signs with messages calling for an end to sexual assault.
“We are asking people to go social with these and post them on Facebook and Twitter,” said Gavilan College Director of Public Information Jan Bernstein Chargin.
Now a nationally and internationally accepted event scheduled for April 23 this year, the original Denim Day harkens back to Los Angeles in 1999, when southern California residents learned of an Italian Supreme Court ruling that said an 18-year-old girl had consented to sex because her jeans were so tight that she had to help her 45-year-old driving instructor remove them. The Chief Judge ruled that “because 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.”
The ruling set tongues wagging across the U.S. Now 15 years later, Gavilan College is hoping to get conversations about the definition of consensual sex rolling again by asking students to share messages through social media.
It’s not just women taking the day’s message to their social media platforms.
“No means no!” wrote Isaiah Sadler, another contestant who looked straight at the camera but didn’t smile.
As of Monday evening, 19 photos were submitted, according to Bernstein Chargin.
“Some (photos) have really good messages,” said Erica Elliot, manager of the sexual assault and prevention program at Community Solutions. “I think it’s just really encouraging to see how many males are participating and females—everyone is participating to show their community that sexual assault is not ok.”
Denim Day fits into April’s title as Sexual Assault Awareness month.
One-in-three women will experience an attempted or completed rape during their lifetime, said Elliot. Younger women between the ages of 16 and 24 are nearly four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than other age groups, she said. Of the assaults at college campuses, 84 percent of the victims were raped by someone they knew, Elliot said.
When the contest closes April 23, a panel of judges from Community Solutions and the Gavilan College Student Health Center and Assembled Student Body will judge the photos for creativity, originality and the power of the message being conveyed. The judges will choose a “best individual photo,” “best group photo,” and “best faculty photo” from the top 10 pictures that receive the most “likes” on Facebook.
Prizes were donated by local businesses and include gift certificates to Black Bear Diner, Johnny Carino’s, Starbucks and Arteaga’s Food Center, Elliot said.
Winning photos will be announced through the Community Solutions Facebook page April 30, and winners will have five days to contact the nonprofit to arrange to collect their prizes.
“Denim Day has been important for us because since we educate college students—and that has often been a vulnerable population—we want to makes sure people understand their rights and the definition of sexual assault,” Bernstein Chargin said.
Community Solutions is a nonprofit that provides domestic violence and sexual assault services to residents of South Santa Clara County.
To participate:
1) Travel to one of the three sites where decorated jeans line the walls at the Gavilan College cafeteria in Gilroy, main hallway at the Hollister satellite campus or cultural center at the Morgan Hill satellite campus
2) Pen a #DenimDayGavilan message using markers and white paper at the site.
3) Take a photo of yourself wearing jeans and holding a sign with a Denim Day message.
4) Post the masterpiece to the Community Solutions’ Facebook wall with the hashtag #DenimDayGavilan or email the photo to Community Solutions: **@co****************.org. Photos can be submitted through midnight April 23, when the contest ends.
Anyone can contribute photos, but contest winners must be Gavilan College students or faculty.
—For more information about the national Denim Day, go to denimdayusa.org.
Younger women between the ages of 16 and 24 are nearly four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than other age groups.
