April is SAAM
Sexual Assault Awareness Month
it is also
Child Abuse Prevention Month
Join us for a variety of virtual events – See below for details
Research shows many people misunderstand what effective self-care is and how they can best benefit from it. Self-care is the practice of protecting and improving your physical and mental health. The scope of self-care is broad, but the key word in its definition is practice.
We would like to invite you to join us for a meditation session, a time to unwind, followed by a brief discussion on ways you can practice self-care.
This event will be Monday, April 12th from noon until 1pm. It is part of a series of on-line and virtual events during April’s Sexual Assault Awareness and Child Abuse Prevention month activities. Return to this page as more activities will be updated throughout the month.
Register in advance for this meditation session:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0scuyhpzMjG9w8FE7iQCzYbPftih_mkpPL
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Click for more conference details
Wednesday April 14th is Pinwheel for Prevention Day – CVC staff will plant sponsored pinwheels in our flowerbed along West 18th Street.
Sponsor a pinwheel below and feel free to drive by 125 W. 18th Street on the 14th between 7:30am and 6pm
Take a selfie and post to our Facebook page and be entered to win a prize.
Denim Day is a campaign on a Wednesday in April in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
The Denim Day story begins in Italy in 1992, when an 18-year old girl was raped by the 45-year old driving instructor who was taking her to her very first driving lesson. He took her to an isolated road, pulled her out of the car, removed her jeans and forcefully raped her.
She reports the rape and the perpetrator is arrested and prosecuted. He is then convicted of rape and sentenced to jail. Years later, he appealed the conviction claiming that they had consensual sex. The Italian Supreme Court overturned the conviction and the perpetrator was released. A statement from the Court argued that because the victim was wearing very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them, and by removing the jeans it was not rape but consensual sex. This became known throughout Italy as the “jeans alibi.”
The campaign began after a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she must have helped the person who raped her remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. Peace Over Violence developed the Denim Day campaign in response to this case and the activism surrounding it. Since then, what started as a local campaign to bring awareness to victim blaming and destructive myths that surround sexual violence has grown into a movement. As the longest running sexual violence prevention and education campaign in history, Denim Day asks community members, elected officials, businesses and students to make a social statement with their fashion statement by wearing jeans on this day as a visible means of protest against the misconceptions that surround sexual violence.
You can support victims of sexual assault by donating to CVC today.
