April 29th is Denim Day – an opportunity to raise awareness about the issue of sexual assault.
Denim Day emerged from an Italian court case in which a rapist walked free because it was the opinion of the court that the 18 year old woman could not have been raped because she was wearing tight jeans! So wear denim on April 29th to show your support for survivors of sexual assault. Share your knowledge with friends, family, and co-workers about the many injustices survivors often experience. By bringing attention to biases and sharing scientific information we can create awareness and enact change!
In the United States we tend to believe our criminal justice system is fair. Since we almost universally believe sexual assault is a crime that should be harshly punished we assume that police and courts distribute justice equally and fairly. Unfortunately, there is significant research which shows this faith is misplaced, although there are certainly numerous individuals who work hard for justice.
With regards to sexual assault, most individuals erroneously believe that false reports of sexual assault are high. In fact scientific research reveals that about 2-8% of all reported sexual assault cases are unfounded, a number similar to all crimes! Of course, many of these cases are not actually false reports but the police have decided there is not enough evidence to move forward or that the victim does not appear sufficiently emotional, disheveled, or physically harmed. A number of these unfounded cases also involve victims who withdrew their complaints due to their treatment at the hands of the criminal justice system. Thus, there is an almost complete mismatch between the public’s understanding of false reports and scientific research.
Even if a case makes its way to court a fair trial is not always assured and International Denim Day one of the ways to raise awareness about this issue. For information check out: http://denimdayinfo.org/
Dr. Dana Weiser is an assistant professor in Human Development & Family Studies and affiliate faculty in Women’s Studies at Texas Tech. She earned her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno. She teaches Human Sexuality at the undergraduate and graduate level, and her scholarly work focuses on infidelity, family patterns in romantic relationships, and sexual health. She is a guest on an upcoming episode of Beyond the (Micro)scope.