LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In recognition of April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the annual “Denim Day” event will be held around Lake County, the state and the nation this week.

Locally, Lake Family Resource Center invites the community to to participate in Denim Day on Wednesday, April 26.

Community members wear jeans on Denim Day in an effort to help break the dress code and break the silence.

Held each April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Denim Day recalls an Italian Supreme Court case that sparked international outrage when a judge overturned a lower court’s conviction of a rapist because the victim wore jeans.

The judges ruled that because the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped her attacker remove them, thus implying consent.

“What began as a simple act of protest – wearing our jeans to support a survivor in Italy – has become one of our most visible public education campaigns,” said Patti Giggans, Denim Day founder and executive director of Peace Over Violence, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit that organizes the campaign. “We ask everyone to wear jeans on April 26 and stand with us to raise awareness about rape and to support survivors.”

With the slogan, “There is No Excuse and Never an Invitation to Rape,” Denim Day is marked annually with events around the United States.

“Our supporters stand together – wearing denim – to help end rape culture and to say emphatically that sexual violence has no place in our communities – ‘not on my campus, not in my locker room, not in my workplace’ – not anywhere,” said Giggans.

The observance of Denim Day is part of the larger recognition of April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Locally, the Board of Supervisors, Clearlake City Council and Lakeport City Council presented proclamations for Sexual Assault Awareness Month as part of the effort to increase public awareness about sexual assault, educate communities and individuals on how to help prevent sexual violence, and increase healthy sexuality and relationships.

The 2017 National Sexual Assault Awareness Month Campaign is focused on engaging new voices, reaching new groups of people in the community and providing them with an introduction to the unique ways they can get engaged in ending sexual violence.

For more information on Denim Day visit http://denimdayinfo.org . For more information on Lake Family Resource Center, visit http://www.lakefrc.org/ .