If you see me during the month of December walking to class, grabbing a cup of coffee, or even going to my home church's Christmas Eve love feast, you'll catch me in the wearing a dress, just as I was the day before. I'm still not quite sure how I will respond when peers in my classes start to think of me as that girl that's still wearing dresses, or when people that I barely know are not bold enough to ask why I'm so dressy to be hanging at the library at 3 am studying for a final, and start to think that it is just me, doing something weird again. I hope that people do ask, though. The point of my wearing a dress every day of December is for people to ask, "why?"

I am wearing my dress to serve as a conversation starter to raise awareness of modern slavery.

I am not alone in my pledging to wear a dress every day. The Dressember movement is becoming more and more popular, as awareness is successfully being raised. How does wearing a dress affect slavery, you may ask?

As put by the Dressember creators, "The dress is our uniform, the flag of our movement. Dressember is an opportunity to reclaim and reappropriate the dress as a symbol of freedom and power; a flag for the inherent dignity of all people."

Many people do not know that there are currently more than 30 million people being enslaved in the world. Of the 30 million being exploited, 2 million are children. Human trafficking generates $150 billion a year. In short, modern slavery makes a whole lot of money, while hurting a whole lot of people (both big and small).

The Dressember Movement began in 2009 when owner Blythe Hill committed to wearing a dress every day of December. As awareness grew around slavery, people joined the movement in flocks. Today, people have the option of simply participating in Dressember, or creating a goal amount of money to raise during the month of December. In 2017, advocates raised over two million dollars for Dressember. The organization uses these donations to help victims of slavery all across the world.

I strongly recommend looking into the Dressember movement, as most are not aware of the severe prevalence of trafficking. Learn more about the tragic truth, and then do something about it. Commit to wearing a dress (Also, there's an option for guys!! Guys wear a tie everyday!!) every day of December, and take a fun, effective stand against slavery.

Learn more about Dressember.