'Sexual Assault Awareness Month' Observed Through Numerous College Programs

Published 04.12.2013

News

'Clothesline" T-shirts, hanging in the Madigan Library, give voice to assault victims' oft-muted cries for recognition.Penn College joins with community organizations in marking Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, taking part in a variety of initiatives that bear witness to victims' experiences, heighten knowledge of community prevention resources and foster public condemnation of such violence. Among the programs are the return of The Clothesline Project, a silently powerful display, in the Madigan Library and Bush Campus Center; a Shoutout Against Sexual Assault, offering public and private opportunities for dialogue from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, in Dauphin Hall; and a Jeans Day organized with the YWCA of Northcentral Pennsylvania and a number of other civic partners. For $5, payable at the Campus Center, members of the college community can wear jeans on Friday, April 26. Why jeans? In 1992, a teenage driving student was raped in Italy by her instructor, but an Italian Supreme Court  judge ruled there was no way that the perpetrator could have removed the woman's jeans without consent. The case became synonymous with dismissive attitudes about sexual assault, sparking international protests and leading to localized expressions of solidarity.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month