The fall Clothesline Project at Ventura College on Wednesday, Nov. 8, helped women speak out about abuse that they experienced in their lives.
The project was presented by the Ventura College Psychology Club in conjunction with the Re-Entry and Women’s Center and was meant to raise awareness about violence against women. But it was not exclusive to women alone, and included homosexuals who experienced violence against them as well as other people in the community who also experienced violence.
According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, each year approximately 1.5 million women and more than 800,000 men are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner. The colored t-shirts in the VC Clothesline Project represented different types of violence and were written on both by people who had personally experienced violence, and those who knew people who had experienced violence, said Psychology Club adviser Lucy Capuano-Brewer.
The project was meant to visually depict violence and empower the survivors of violence. The colors of the t-shirts, waving in the wind between tall trees in front of the LRC, each represented different types of violence: white for domestic abuse; yellow, brown or beige for assault or battery; pink, red or orange for rape or sexual assault; green or blue for child sexual abuse or incest; purple or lavender for homophobic violence; black for gang rape, murder or death as a result of violence.
One yellow t-shirt, posted by a crying woman, read, “My hands will never be used as my father used his. He physically and mentally abused my mother and I. He hospitalized my mother at least five times. Finally he was arrested in 2000 and [pled] ‘no contest.’ He served two weeks in jail and paid several fees. He attended two years of anger management. Still it is not enough. He never hit me again. Just because they are never caught doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Nov. 8, ’06.”
Another t-shirt, blue, read, “I was six years old when my grandfather raped me and my sisters. To this day it is hard for me to trust anyone. I hate all men who take women’s virginity. Now I have no grandfather because he chose to rape myself and other members of my family. It’s not fair. I hate him… NO MORE RAPISTS!”
The project was also a fundraiser for the Re-Entry and Women’s Center and the Psychology Club. The Psychology Club sold clothespins, which were used to hang the t-shirts, for $5 for students and $10 for teachers. The project raised approximately $150 for the Psychology Club from the clothespins, and gave $100 to the Re-Entry and Women’s center, said VC Psychology Club member Erin Eckberg.
For more information about the Ventura College Psychology Club, visit www.myspace.com/vcpsychologyclub
Click the video link below for an exclusive slideshow presentation with narration bySheila Neira.
Psychology Club Faculty Advisor Lucy Capuano-Brewer, holds a blouse worn by a student at the time of her assault, during ‘The Clothesline Project’, an event sponsored by the Ventura College Psychology Club. (Sheila Neira)
