The Associated Student Organization (ASO) displayed their Denim Day Clothesline Project at Rocky Young Park at Pierce College on Wednesday, April 30, to raise awareness of sexual violence. ASO invited students to decorate or share their stories on T-shirts to hang on the clothesline.
Denim Day is an annual event that takes place on the last Wednesday of April. It originated in 1999 as a response to a controversial court ruling in Italy when a rape conviction was overturned when a judge stated that because the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must’ve helped take them off, implying that she consented. The next day, women wore jeans in solidarity with the victim as a form of activism.
The ASO Clothesline Project is a visual display of multi-colored T-shirts, each signifying a form of violence or sexual abuse. Students are encouraged to decorate and share their stories and add them to the clothesline with shirts from previous years.
Dream Resource Center Lead D’arcy Corwin discussed the purpose of having an event like Denim Day on campus.
“The purpose is to highlight and be in support of stories of sexual assault,” Corwin said. “It gives our students a platform to be able to express themselves and for them to know that as a college, we support them through their experience.”
ASO Senator Moshe “Edden” Ishaaya shared what brought him out to attend the event and support those who have been affected by sexual violence.
“I’m here to volunteer, I want to support this event because sexual assault is a very big deal. I have known several people in my life who have gone through that kind of assault,” Ishaaya said. “I have also personally advocated for victims when they have been victim-blamed. People can wear what they want, and that doesn’t mean they’re asking for sex or to be assaulted in any way.”
ASO Advisor and Student Engagement Coordinator Lara Conrady Wong, who coordinated the clothesline project, explained what kind of impact an event like this brings to campus.
“It provides a safe space for students to just check out what other students have to say and then if they decide they want to decorate a shirt, maybe it’s a way they can express something,” Wong said. It’s just a way to process things and process it in a healthy way, and to take some of the stigma away from sexual assault.”
