Through Denim, East High Senior Draws Attention to Victims of Rape

Wauwatosa East senior McKenna Nerone's home is filling rapidly with blue jeans – nearly 500 pairs and counting. She's planning on having 1,050 pairs by April 24.

McKenna is making a fashion statement of sorts, because this, to some extent, is about what girls and women choose to wear.

It is about girls' and women's right not to be raped – and further, to not be stigmatized when they have been, in some cases because of their clothes.

In casting about for a school community service project, McKenna came upon Denim Day, a worldwide date for advocacy for rape victims. After doing some research and applying some statistical thought of her own, McKenna forged a concept that has brought her to the attention of community leaders far beyond East High School.

Putting the victim on trial

"Denim Day is an international movement which began in 1999 when an Italian teen was raped by her driving instructor," McKenna said. "The perpetrator was convicted of the crime and sentenced to prison.

"At an appeal hearing, however, the Italian Supreme Court overturned the conviction, reasoning the victim's jeans were 'too tight' and that she would have had to have helped remove them. They judged this act to constitute her consent, and the assault was no longer rape, but consensual sex.

"This verdict motivated women and men around the world to dedicate April 24 to wearing jeans to help take the blame off the victim and put it back on the perpetrator – where it belongs."

"I have spent 14 years in school receiving specific information on how to prevent pregnancy and HIV," McKenna said, "but no one ever taught me that, as a teenager, I have a 1 in 5 chance of being raped, and chances are I will know my assailant.

"In light of the recent event with the Steubenville (Ohio) rape case, and some people in political office discussing what qualifies as ‘legitimate’ rape, I believed something had to be done to bring awareness to our community and educate others."

There was a compelling subject. But to satisfy the demands of her project, McKenna needed to do more than present an argument. She needed to find a way to demonstrate it in a community setting. 

And so, about those 1,050 pairs of jeans....

Doing the math, turning numbers into a vision

"I sit in school for seven hours a day, five days a week," McKenna said. "With a rape occurring every two minutes, this means while I am safe in school each week, 1,050 women will be raped.

"To highlight this alarming statistic, I am collecting 1,050 pairs of jeans; one pair to honor every woman who will be raped each week while I am in school. They will then be displayed at Tosa East High School on April 24.

"Like" Denim Day Milwaukee on Facebook to be updated on the progress of McKenna's project

"It is one thing to tell people 1,050 woman are raped, but I believe it will be a powerful message for people to see 1,050 pair of jeans... and have realize each pair represents a woman who will be sexually assaulted during that week, just during school hours."

McKenna, for now, is keeping secret just how all those jeans will be displayed. To her, that is part of the value of the project, to challenge people's expectations in surprising ways. 

Becoming a community leader

Another part of the community service project requirement is to garner support outside the school. McKenna, with a more challenging and provocative subject than the typical high-schooler might choose, was a bit concerned it would be hard to get people on board.

A letter from McKenna came across the desk of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett just at a time when he was himself soliciting "community leaders" for recognition. His office was initially looking for those leaders of the expected sort – adult community activists and organizers taking on hunger, poverty, infant welfare, teen pregnancy, joblessness, environmental concerns and the like – all worthy subjects.

But Barrett, taken by her passion and creativity, immediately put McKenna on his "community leaders" list. She will be participating with him in a press conference April 3 to focus attention on rape and other traumas facing youths.

One more thing that attracted Barrett and others to McKenna's project is that it is not a "one and done" effort.

All her jeans, collected from friends and supporters of her project, will be donated to Pathfinders, a local agency that works with runaway and at-risk teens.