Andersen supports Denim Day Published April 25, 2013 By Airman 1st Class Emily A. Bradley 36th Wing Public Affairs ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- Team Andersen participates in the 6th Annual Denim Day April 26 as a way to commemorate victims of sexual assault. Denim Day started after a 1995 incident where an Italian teenage girl was picked up by her 45-year-old driving instructor for her first lesson. He took her to an isolated location, pulled her out of the car and raped her. Despite his threats that she would be killed if she told anyone, the girl reported the incident and the case was prosecuted. The driving instructor was convicted of rape and sent to prison. Months later, the perpetrator appealed the sentence. The case made it all the way to the Italian supreme court and they overturned the verdict. The court found that because the victim wore tight jeans, she must have helped him remove them. The head judge said in a statement that because of this fact, the incident was no longer rape but consensual sex, and the driving instructor was released as a free man. Outraged by the verdict, the female members of the Italian parliament protested the court's ruling by wearing jeans to work the next day. Since then, Denim Day has become an annual international demonstration. "We wear jeans to symbolize the outrageousness of that particular court case as well as to really pay tribute to the victims of sexual assault," said 1st Lt. Masha Scheglov, 36th Wing sexual assault response coordinator. Team Andersen is encouraged to wear jeans with a sexual assault prevention and response t-shirt. For more information about Denim Day or Sexual Assault Awareness Month, contact the SAPR office at 366-SARC (7272).