The East Texas Crisis Center in Henderson County held the Clothesline Project on April 5, 2016 at the Courthouse in Athens, coinciding with the proclamation reading recognizing the month of April as the Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
What is the Clothesline Project. The concept IS simple – let each woman tell her story in her own unique way, using words and/or artwork to decorate her shirt. Once finished, she would then hang her shirt on the clothesline. This very action serves many purposes. It acts as an educational tool for those who come to view the Clothesline; it becomes a healing tool for anyone who make a shirt – by hanging the shirt on the line, survivors, friends and family can literally turn their back on some of that pain of their experience and walk away; finally it allows those who are still suffering in silence to understand that they are not alone.
[image action=”none” image_action_link=”#” target=”_self” align=”alignleft” image_size_alias=”” image_alt=”” link_title=”” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” bw=”0″ sc_id=”sc1459957344770″]http://etcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Clothes-line.jpg[/image]
The shirts are color coded to show the form of abuse and whether the victim survived the abuse they experienced.
- Yellow or beige represents battered or assaulted women;
- White represents women who died because of violence;
- Red, pink, and orange are for survivors of rape and sexual assault;
- Blue and green t-shirts represent survivors of incest and sexual abuse;
- Purple or lavender represents women attacked because of their sexual orientation;
- Black is for women attacked for political reasons.
