April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and AWARE is planning a fashion show to honor survivors of sexual assault and raise awareness. The event is happening on what’s known as Denim Day, which falls on April 29 this year.
KTOO’s Mike Lane sat down with AWARE Director of Outreach and Engagement Christina Michelle to learn more.
Listen:
The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Mike Lane: There is an event coming up that I know very, very little about, and I’d like for you to explain it to me — Denim Day. What is it?
Christina Michelle: Denim Day is the last Wednesday of every April where we celebrate the survivors of sexual assault. So AWARE is organizing a Denim Day fashion show, and what that looks like is volunteers sign up to be models, and they wear denim jeans, and then they wear really cool statement T-shirts that we’re providing that say slogans around advocacy for sexual assault.
Mike Lane: How did this get started, Denim Day?
Christina Michelle: So, good question. Denim Day started in Italy in the 90s after a young woman was raped by her driving instructor and he was sentenced to prison, but then he appealed, saying that her jeans were so tight that he couldn’t have removed them on his own, and therefore she must have helped, and that it wasn’t assault. Surprisingly, his conviction was overturned. He was released from prison, and when her community heard about it, there was a public uproar, outrage, outcry, all the things. And they protested in denim. And this got picked up internationally, and people started protesting all over.
Mike Lane: So that’s where it came from. And it’s coming up April 29 in Juneau. Where is it going to be?
Christina Michelle: It’s going to be held at the Crystal Saloon.
Mike Lane: And what time?
Christina Michelle: It starts at six o’clock. And we estimated that it might go till about 7:30. Not the entire fashion show, but the whole event.
Mike Lane: Okay. And so you have people who have signed up to be models for this.
Christina Michelle: Yes, absolutely.
Mike Lane: And the the models are going to don their denim, correct?
Christina Michelle: Correct.
Mike Lane: And how many models have you got signed up? Do you need more?
Christina Michelle: Yeah, we have 30 models signed up. We would love to have more. We have maybe half and half, you know, for men and women.
Mike Lane: Really?
Christina Michelle: Yes, and we really did a big push asking men to participate in this cause, and the men have been supportive and kind of tentative at the same time. They’re like, ‘Okay, I’m a little shy. Don’t really know what to do, but I want to help. I want to be there.’ And so, yeah, we’ve got about 15 men and 15 women, and you know, but we could go up to 40, up to 40 models.
Mike Lane: Who can attend? Just anybody?
Christina Michelle: Anybody can attend. So I want to say I know that the Crystal Saloon is an un maybe unexpected venue for an event like this, but we chose it on purpose, because we. So many sexual assaults begin when people are like out where they’re out partying, they’re out in bars. We get so many people asking us to talk more about how women can stay safe from being victims of like date rape, drugs and things like that that are slipped into drinks at the bars. And so we really thought it would be a cool way to say we’re kind of like, we’re taking back a space where harm may start, and we’re reclaiming it. And we’re like, no, like, this is also a place of healing. This is a place where people can be educated. And also the crystal saloon is just a cool venue. Even though it is at the Crystal saloon, we’ve got permission for families to attend. So if you want to bring like your high school kids, everyone is very welcome. As long as they’re with a parent, then minors can attend.
Mike Lane: And what should we expect at this fashion show?
Christina Michelle: We’re going to start off with just a brief explanation of what Denim Day is about and why we’re celebrating it, and, of course, a land acknowledgement. We’re hoping to have maybe Alaska Native group dance and just open us up and help us just make the space feel sacred for the event, and then we’ll get into the fashion show. And we’ve got DJ al Boogie is going to be DJing, and we’ve got, like, a really fire playlist. And then we have these awesome volunteer models of all shapes, sizes, abilities, heights, like attitudes. They’re a really cool group, and they’re going to be taking that stage and and showing off these really awesome T-shirts.
