Denim Day: The Jeans Alibi that Sparked a Global Movement

Red Flags and Body Bags · Apr 30, 2026 · 13m

This Denim Day special is live with Dana and Chloe on Red Flags and Body Bags.

What started as one 18-year-old girl’s r*pe case in Italy in 1992 became a worldwide symbol of resistance when the Supreme Court overturned her attacker’s conviction — because she was wearing tight jeans. The court literally ruled that “it is nearly impossible to slip off tight jeans without the active collaboration of the person wearing them.”

Twenty-six years later in Cork, Ireland, a defense barrister held up a 17-year-old r*pe victim’s lace th*ng in open court and told the jury: “You have to look at the way she…