Strength in Style: Empowering survivors at SASHA Center’s Denim Day event

In 1998, a convicted rapist in Muro Lucano, Italy had his verdict overturned after the Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that since the survivors' jeans were very tight, she must have cooperated in the sexual assault. The reversal sparked global outrage and birthed Denim Day, a day in which women all over the world wear denim to bring attention and awareness to sexual violence.

Acknowledging Denim Day, the SASHA Center in Detroit will host its own Denim Day on April 30, 2025. The event promises to be a fun mix of music, fashion, and a celebration of women's empowerment. 

“We plan on having a great DJ. We're going to have great fashion. We're going to have people gathering and talking and sharing. But there's also going to be an aesthetic, and the aesthetic is going to be entertaining in and of itself,” says Kalimah Johnson, founder of the SASHA Center. “I don't want to give it away, but there are so many surprises that we have that are denim related, that are Detroit related, that are survivor related.”

The SASHA Center’s first Denim Day was held in 2016 as they joined forces with fraternities, sororities, and other organizations via the African American 490 Challenge to raise $500,000 to fund rape kit testing and investigations. The effort was led by Kim Trent, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, and the Michigan Women's Foundation.

Johnson founded the sexual assault service, prevention, and educational agency in Detroit in 2010 to provide support and assistance to people who had experienced sexual assault.

“A lot of people think that the SASHA Center is a place where sadness happens, but we’re actually a place of joy,” Johnson says.  “It’s a soft place to land for anybody who's experienced any kind of intimate partner violence.”
Kalimah Johnson.
Throughout the years, the SASHA Center has participated in and hosted hundreds of fundraisers and activations geared towards healing, information, and education as it relates to intimate partner violence. 

“At the end of the day, I'm a survivor myself,” says Gena Culler-Green, a longtime supporter of the SASHA Center and curator of Denim Day. “I've been to several, I can't even count how many opportunities with the SASHA Center, from the boat rides, to the Denim Days, to the Take Back the Nights, and it's really impacted me, not only as a survivor, but someone who is really heavy on community.” 

The SASHA Center is also assisting Wayne State’s newly formed office of Sexual Violence Prevention and Education while keeping its focus on the lived experiences of black girls. Culler-Green and Johnson want to continue pushing the SASHA Center’s impact by increasing programming frequency and establishing branches around the U.S. and Africa. 

“For the next 15 years where, you know, like how mental health wasn't a conversation before and now it is. I would love to see what SASHA Center and other sexual assault communities are doing where that is a conversation and is no longer uncomfortable. It's the conversations that we feel are necessary," Culler-Green says.

SASHA Center’s Denim Day event will occur from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at 601 Bagley St. in Detroit. Tickets cost $40.