Denim day occurs on the last Wednesday of April, which is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Participants are encouraged to wear denim to combat victim-blaming and educate others about sexual violence. 

Junior Jayden Island

“I’ve had a lot of friends and family members who have been impacted negatively by sexual assault so I just want to show my support to those people and help raise awareness so they can get access to more resources.”

“I think that victim-blaming is a really bad problem with sexual assault cases. A lot of the time I hear people putting the blame on the victim and things they were wearing to cause that situation, when in reality there are a lot of other factors, specifically on the part of the abuser that causes so many of those situations. I think that it’s really bad for people to blame the victim when those situations are out of their control and they can’t really do anything to prevent other people’s poor decisions and abusive behavior.”

Junior Esteban Macias

“It’s just really, really terrible. It’s one of those things that when it happens to people it’s really easy to blame yourself and feel a lot of guilt over something that’s completely not your fault. It’s really important to give people the support they need to feel comfortable and not blame themselves.”

“I think that victim-blaming is one of the reasons why sexual assault affects the victim so much because of all the victim-blaming that goes into it. When another crime happens to someone they don’t get that same level of shame. If you get robbed, for example, no one’s like “Oh, why did you do that to your house?” So it’s really, really weird to try and blame someone for something they have no control over.”

Junior Bella Lenker

“I feel like it’s important that it should be known by everybody that it does happen, and I know a lot of

 women who have said it does happen. Spreading awareness is always a good thing, but being open about it is even better. Denim day is kind of a cool way to nonchalantly show other people that you’re involved and you get where they’re coming from.”

“Victim blaming is super dumb because you should be able to express yourself the way that you want to and live your life the way that you want to and be happy in what you’re wearing and not feel uncomfortable because other people are looking at you a certain way. It’s never the victim’s fault. You should just keep your hands to yourself and not be a nasty jerk.”

Junior Kaitlyn Reed

“I think sexual assault is wrong. If someone doesn’t know the story they shouldn’t be the one telling it, because stories get mixed up all the time. Everything about it is wrong.”

Senior Kiara Kim

“It sucks, obviously. Not a lot is being done about it and I feel like there should be more awareness because it’s a really prevalent thing.”