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A small gesture for a serious issue

By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published April 25, 2005

When you've been a reporter for a few years, the "Theme of the Month" story suggestions that inevitably come your way get a bit tiresome.

It's not that the causes aren't worthy of attention. It's just that there are a lot of them. In April alone, to name a few, there is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, Alcohol Awareness Month, Mathematics Awareness Month, National STD Awareness Month, Stress Awareness Month, Workplace Conflict Awareness Month, even Irritable Bowel Syndrome Awareness Month.

You get the picture.

So when I got an e-mail Friday from Trish Kley of Sunrise of Pasco County, my first reaction, I'll admit, was not enthusiastic. (I'm already looking ahead to May, anxiously awaiting National Egg Month and National Barbecue Month.)

Kley, development director for the domestic violence shelter in Dade City, was making a last-minute plug for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. She got my attention.

We can't pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV these days without being bombarded by the latest sex crime. The recent rash, at least the incidents that receive media attention, is disturbingly directed toward children. The names of innocent young girls - Jessica Lunsford, Carlie Brucia - roll off our tongues for the worst kind of celebrity.

We all are asking why, why, why. The answers don't come easily.

But the folks at Sunrise say awareness, particularly when it comes to sexual violence, is key. That sounds obvious, until you learn that instances of sexual assault and domestic violence go highly underreported. Last year, Pasco County law enforcement received 176 reports.

That's why advocates are asking everyone to wear denim Wednesday. Huh?

Turns out in 1999, the Italian Supreme Court overturned a rape conviction because the victim wore jeans during her attack. In their infinite wisdom, the justices reasoned that the victim must have consented to the sex because that was the only way her jeans could have been taken off.

The decision sent Italian women into an uproar. They carried "Jeans: Alibi for rape," signs on the steps of parliament in Rome. The next year, women in the United States joined in on a "Denim Day."

It is a unique approach for a serious, timely issue. Wearing jeans, of course, won't rid society of sexual violence. But Penny Morrill, Sunrise's executive director, said the act sends an important message.

It "goes back to the other myths of, well, she had on a short skirt or she wasn't wearing a bra," said Morrill, who has been caring for assault victims for 20 years. "It's not about what people wear. It's about power and control on the part of the perpetrator."

Morrill once spearheaded a campaign in Pasco that encouraged parents to supervise their children at bus stops. The urgency of the issue eventually died off, but recent events have Morrill thinking such efforts should be stepped back up.

"We really need to talk about being careful, being aware of your surroundings," Morrill said. "Anything we can do just to keep it on the radar screen."

Sexual violence does not target only women. Nor does it stop once April ends or these recent cases fade from the limelight.

Sick people will still do sick things. But for those of us without the power to enact tougher laws or comprehend the psyches of sexual predators and offenders, a simple gesture like wearing jeans on Wednesday might at least signal that we stand together against them.

[Last modified April 25, 2005, 01:04:14]