Denim, silence and the fight to be believed
While April was Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we must remember that for survivors, this is not just one month out of the year – it’s their daily reality.
Sexual violence is not confined to a calendar; it’s woven into the everyday lives of far too many. Awareness is important, but it’s not enough. We must make a conscious, ongoing effort every day to believe survivors, support them, challenge the systems that harm them and create a culture rooted in consent, accountability and care.
Sexual assault does not discriminate. It affects people of all genders, races, sexual orientations and ages. Yet in the United States and across the globe, survivors – especially young people, college students and those from marginalized communities – are often silenced, dismissed and retraumatized by a culture that still asks, “What were you wearing?” or “You must have done something.”
That’s where Denim Day comes in. Observed on the last Wednesday of April, this global movement began after a ruling…