Californians across the state are urged to break the dress code and the silence Wednesday, April 21 by wearing jeans to participate in Denim Day California. Denim Day is being sponsored by Mountain Crisis Services and the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA). Denim Day California campaign began in 1999 with CALCASA and Peace Over Violence, previously LACAAW, Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women, as part of an international protest of an Italian High Court decision to overturn a rape conviction because the victim was wearing jeans.

The Italian Supreme Court dismissed charges against a 45-year-old rape suspect because his 18-year old victim was wearing jeans at the time of the attack. The court stated in its decision that “It is common knowledge...that jeans cannot even be partly removed without the effective help of the person wearing them...and it is impossible if the victim is struggling with all her might.” The judgment sparked a worldwide outcry from those who understand coercion, threats and violence go along with the act of rape. The unpopular verdict became an international symbol of myth-based injustice for sexual assault victims.

Mountain Crisis Services will be hosting a viewing of the film “Killing Us Softly 4” to raise awareness in April. In this new, update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series, the first in more than a decade, Jean Kilbourne takes a fresh look at how advertising traffics in distorted and destructive ideals of femininity.

The film marshals a range of new print and television advertisements to lay bare a stunning pattern of damaging gender stereotypes -- images and messages that too often reinforce unrealistic, and unhealthy, perceptions of beauty, perfection, and sexuality. By bringing Kilbourne's analysis up to date, Killing Us Softly 4 stands to challenge a new generation of students to take advertising seriously, and to think critically about popular culture and its relationship to sexism, eating disorders, and gender violence. Organizers invite the community to join them at Downtown Yoga on Friday, April 30 at 7 p.m. for this viewing.

For more information, contact Mountain Crisis Services at 742-5865.