Our Bureau
New York, NY
The Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV), the Commission on Gender Equity, the Denim Day NYC Committee (DDNYC), advocates, supporters, and elected officials are set to convene at Brooklyn Borough Hall to raise awareness about sexual violence, to support survivors, and to march toward Foley Square in Manhattan on April 24. Denim Day stands as a beacon of resilience and advocacy, marking the longest-running sexual violence prevention and education campaign in history.
The campaign calls upon community members, elected officials, businesses, and students to join forces in a powerful act of solidarity. By wearing denim attire on this day, individuals make a bold social statement, using their fashion choices as a platform for protest against the harmful misconceptions that perpetuate sexual violence.
Denim Day is an annual, global day-of-action on the last Wednesday of April — Sexual Violence Awareness Month (SVAM). Denim Day began as protest to a 1998 Italian Supreme Court decision that overturned a rape conviction because the victim wore tight jeans. The judge concluded that the victim “must have helped her assailant remove her jeans” and therefore gave consent. People were outraged around the world, and wearing jeans became an international symbol to assert that there is never an excuse for sexual violence. In 1999. the movement started in the United States, and in 2010, Denim Day NYC, a coalition of advocates, city agencies and survivors, was established to march in honor of survivors everywhere, to raise awareness, spread information, and move to end sexual violence around the world.
The Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV) develops policies and programs, provides training and prevention education, conducts research and evaluations, performs community outreach, and operates the New York City Family Justice Centers.
The NYC Family Justice Centers are co‐located multidisciplinary service centers providing vital social services, civil legal, and criminal justice assistance for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence and their children — all under one roof.
Denim Day NYC is a coalition of survivors, advocates, community organizations, city council members, and city agencies working together to raise awareness about sexual assault. Denim Day NYC hosts events throughout the year all around NYC to promote awareness about sexual assault and connect New Yorkers to resources. Since 2010, Denim Day NYC has hosted a rally and press conference in April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month to unite New Yorkers around the issue of sexual assault and show solidarity with survivors.
