Starting today, Dickson Court and the Court of Sciences will be the site of the Clothesline Project, an art exhibit featuring T-shirts created by survivors of sexual violence.
T-shirts with messages of remembrance, survival and hope, as well as pieces from the family and friends of victims of sexual violence, will be displayed on an actual clothesline.
“We want to break the silence and stigma that usually shrouds the topic of sexual violence and educate the campus and make a difference in the community,” said Rachel Stauber, a third-year business economics major and publicity chair for the Clothesline Project.
Survivors who visit the exhibit are welcomed and encouraged to make their own T-shirts to add to the line.
Shirts are displayed anonymously and can be words, pictures or a combination of the two.
A shirt from the 2005 Clothesline Project reads: “This is for the 30 long seconds it takes to asphixiate someone. This is for you Mommy, to know that your wonderfull life will not be forgotten & that your violent death would not have been in vain.”
A shirt from another Clothesline Project event reads, “You are a rapist! You can’t scare me anymore ““ I am a survivor.”
The exhibit, which is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, Wednesday and Thursday, attempts to educate the community about sexual violence and the pain survivors endure.
In addition, workshops on a variety of related topics will be held at Dickson Court on the Schoenberg Quad, ranging from “Living in a Rape Culture” to “Safer Sex 101.”
The spotlight of this year’s event is Comfort Women, the women who were used as sexual slaves by Japanese soldiers in World War II. T-shirts from these survivors specifically will be on display, and on Thursday, Young Koreans United of Los Angeles plans to give a workshop about the Comfort Women and their history.
Organizers will have a trained sexual violence awareness advocate at the exhibit to answer any questions and to assist visitors and survivors.
At 6:30 on Thursday evening, an event called Take Back the Night will begin in De Neve Plaza. Take Back the Night is a march and rally for survivors and supporters of the cause, where people can come to hear speakers and fraternity brothers light candles in solidarity. A survivor speak-out is expected to start at around 9:30 p.m.
“Fraternities are showing their support, because a lot of times a lot of men think that we’re blaming them, and that’s not the case. Men are allies, survivors, and our friends and advocates.” Stauber said.
Alice Tian, a third-year business economics student, said she plans to attend the event for the first time this year.
“I would check it out. I’ve just passed by it,” Tian said.
The Clothesline Project began in 1990 in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, by a small group of women astounded by statistics from the Men’s Rape Prevention Project. According to the Clothesline Project’s Web site, 58,000 men were killed during the Vietnam War, but in the same time period, 51,000 women were killed as a result of sexual violence.
The concept of using a clothesline as the display method followed naturally. Laundry is traditionally considered “women’s work,” and generations of women have transferred neighborhood information and gossip over the clotheslines in their backyards, according to the Clothesline Project’s national Web site.