By Emiley Morgan
During the Vietnam War, 58,000 men died. During that same time period, 51,000 women were killed by men claiming to love them. These statistics prompted the Clothesline Project that is designed to raise awareness and provoke prevention of domestic violence, said Jennie Briggs, Equity Center Specialist at Utah Valley State College.
The Clothesline Project is a display of T-shirts featuring messages about domestic abuse, violence and sexual assault. The event, which continues through Thursday at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public who are also invited to create T-shirts as well.
Briggs said the project was started in Cape Cod in 1990 when the Cape Cod Women”s Defense Agenda connected the statistic about men dying in Vietnam and women who were being abused. She said UVSC hosts the event because the violence that prompted the founding of the project continues to this day.
“Abuse is happening right here in our community,” she said. “We want to give an outlet for those people who might not have another way of breaking the silence. For some it”s a way of healing, others are curious and they make a T-shirt, which marks the beginning of their healing process.”
Above all, Briggs said, the event is about awareness and prevention. It”s about creating an outlet and providing the opportunity for participants to learn and help.
“We not only have the T-shirts for people to view, and they can make a T-shirt as well, but we also have a table full of resources,” Briggs said. “We have all kinds of handouts that talk about things like marital rape and what domestic violence does to children. People can take all of these materials for free.”
Carol Verbecky, director of Turning Point at UVSC, also said the event is about awareness and the realization that domestic violence is a reality.
“I think they [UVSC] considers abuse a huge problem in our society, so they want to bring attention to the fact that abuse exists and that we need to do things to bring that out into the open so we can make changes in the society as to how this is handled,” Verbecky said.
Verbecky said the event isn”t only for those who have been abused, but to make potential abusers aware of the effects of violence.
“I would like it to be a changing experience for participants, so that if they are tempted to be abusive in any way, they can recognize what is abusive behavior and make decisions beforehand, before participating in any of this behavior,” Verbecky said.
Peggy Pasin, program coordinator for The Women”s Resource Center, said she also wants participants to be motivated by the project. She said past participants were so impacted that they changed careers. The most important thing is about taking any kind of action.
“I hope that people will make a choice to use their awareness of the problem to do something about it, whatever that might be,” Pasin said. “It”s going to be different for different people. One person will make a difference by simply being aware, another woman might become aware by volunteering at the Center for Women and Children in Crisis. Just taking that awareness to act and do something to make a difference in the lives of people.”
Pasin said awareness is the key. She said UVSC inherited the project from BYU and carries it on today because domestic violence is still a pertinent issue even in Utah, where it is often avoided.
“It”s astounding to me that so many people, women in particular, remain silent,” Pasin said. “I think the culture kind of encourages steadfast devotion to marriage and family, no matter what, and it”s hard to pull away from the vision of a happy marriage, so they will hold to that image.”
Pasin said while the project is about giving women a voice and taking action, it is mostly about acknowledging the reality and brevity of domestic violence.
“It”s very challenging to experience the clothesline project,” Pasin said. “It”s moving. It”s deeply emotional. If you have a shred of humanity or empathy it”s difficult to read the shirts, but it”s important for community and personal awareness to realize that in this community we have a problem with violence, especially domestic violence.”
