Messages against sexual assault, such as “What if it was your sister?” and “Keep your hands to yourself,” were smeared in paint on jeans displayed in front of Kerckhoff Hall on Wednesday.
UCLA’s Clothesline Project, a sexual-violence awareness group, encouraged students to wear jeans on Denim Day to show solidarity against sexual violence, said Rachel Stauber, the publicity chair of the Clothesline Project.
In addition to wearing jeans, the group handed out ribbons made out of denim and asked sororities to donate unwanted jeans. The jeans will be given to local rape-treatment centers since sexual-assault survivors are required to give their jeans to officials as evidence in sexual-assault crimes, said Nikki Moskowitz, the outreach chair for the project.
Students said they wanted sexual-assault survivors on campus to know they were supported.
Moskowitz said she was never sexually assaulted but she has a friend who was raped.
“It was hard watching her go through it,” said Moskowitz, who added that the experience inspired her to join the project.
Denim Day started in 1999 after the Italian Supreme Court overturned the original conviction against a rape suspect on the basis that the victim was wearing jeans during the attack and jeans cannot be removed without the help of the person wearing them, Stauber said.
This decision was met with controversy and caused women in the Italian parliament and the California Senate and Assembly to protest by wearing jeans, according to the Web site for Peace Over Violence, the group that started Denim Day.
Stauber said the Italian ruling made rape victims who wore jeans when they were raped feel ostracized and implied the victim had wanted to have sex, a phenomenon known as victim blaming.
“No matter what you wear, what you do, or who you are, there is no sexual invitation. Nobody is ever asking to be raped,” Stauber said.
Moskowitz said there is a need for the event at UCLA because there is a significant amount of sexual assault on college campuses that goes unreported because students are afraid of the reactions of their peers and teachers.
“People will ask, “˜Was (the victim) drinking?’ Why does that matter? It shouldn’t have happened,” said Moskowitz, who added that the group was a resource for those who have experienced sexual violence.
Moskowitz said she believes people who have been sexually assaulted should be called “˜rape survivors’ instead of “˜victims,’ and the project helped students speak out about sexual assault.
“It’s very easy to stay in that mind-set and you are a victim. But people should think, “˜I’m going to try hard to survive,'” Moskowitz said.
Members of the Sigma Pi Fraternity also came out to help set up the event and to show that sexual assault affects males as well, said Eric Thomasian, who graduated in winter 2007.
Thomasian said sexual assaults are often blamed on the Greek system, and the fraternity wanted to erase the stigma and help the community.
The UCLA Center for Women & Men also cosponsored workshops about sex to coincide with Denim Day, though the workshops are regularly held throughout the school year as part of Project Date Smart, said Dr. Christina Miller, associate director of the center.
“We are trying to teach students how to talk about sex with their partner, which includes learning how to be assertive. We also want to help students learn effective ways of protecting themselves and how to say no,” Miller said.