Welcome to USU’s 2021 Clothesline Project. While this project is usually displayed across campus, this year we have compiled all of the stories, messages, and resources here to raise awareness about domestic violence this month of October, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and all months. The Clothesline Project was created as a way for survivors to share what has happened to them as well as highlight the realities behind statistics of domestic violence that are often overlooked. Each shirt in this project was created by a victim of violence or by someone whose loved one was a victim. We encourage you to visit our resources page should you or someone you know need help.
About
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This month began being recognized in 1981 by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. We are using all 31 days to highlight stories of domestic violence and take action to end it. This includes providing information on how to start conversations about domestic violence with friends and family, how to recognize abusers, and how to get help should you or someone you know be victims of violence. All of this information can be found on our resources page.
The Clothesline Project
The Clothesline Project was started in 1990 after a group of women were talking and realized that while 58,000 soldiers died in the Vietnam war, 51,000 women were killed during the same period by those close to them. After expressing a desire to bring their own experiences of domestic violence to light, one of these women, an artist named Rachel Carey-Harper, had the idea to hand color-coded t-shirt out with the rest of their laundry. Laundry was often hung in semi-public places were women to chat while they were hanging clothes, making this an ideal spot to share and discuss instances of domestic violence. The shirts were decorated with images and messages as a form of expression as well as a way relay what domestic violence can look like. The first project was in October of 1990 and many different states hold their own clothesline projects yearly.
Women & Gender Program
We promote and advocate for gender equity on campus and in the community. We facilitate opportunities for learning and activism to support and empower all individuals in building an inclusive and compassionate society. The Women and Gender Program provides resources to support the USU community including a lounge space with computers and printers, a kitchen with a microwave, menstrual projects, sexual health resources and more. We also offer various scholarship and financial aid opportunities.
Women & Gender Program Information
Gallery
The Clothesline Project was created in 1990 by a group of women who learned that while 58,000 soldiers died during the Vietnam War, 51,000 women were killed by their partners. To raise awarness about violence against women they hung color-coded shirts on the clostheslines outside their homes for those walking past to view.
More than 12 million men and women a year are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States.
National Domestic Violence Awareness Month has been held during October every year since 1981. Almost 3 out of 4 Americans know someone who is or has been a victim of domestic violence. Use this month and all months to speak out and support survivors.
Logan has several community resources for victims of violence including CAPSA and the SAAVI office at Utah State. Find out more about these resources on their websites where they have crisis numbers and information on their services.
20,000 calls are placed a day to domestic violence hotlines.
“Domestic violence (also called intimate partner violence (IPV), domestic abuse or relationship abuse) is a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship.”
Nearly half of all women and men in the United States have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
If you or someone you know is a victim of violence, therapy, child, and advocacy support services, emergency shelter, and a 24-hour response team are available at CAPSA, the Citizens Against Physical and Sexual Abuse, in Logan.
1 in 4 women ages 18 and older in the United States have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
20% of women in the United States have been raped.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline helps describe abusive relationships using the Power and Control Wheel. Part of this wheel is “using intimidation” which describes how perpetrators gain power and control by using fear.
Breakthecycle.org has resources on legal services for victims of abuse as well as policy agendas that show how they're trying to advocate for victims on a local, state, and federal level.
10 million people a year are physically abused by an intimate partner.
USU'S SAAVI advocates can help you obtain a forensic exam, accompany you to the police, answer you questions, or help you get help and report abuse should you need them.
30 to 60% of perpetrators of intimate partner violence also abuse children in the household.
Among victims of child abuse 40% report domestic violence in the home.
Warning signs of an abuser can include possessiveness, abuse of other family members, children or pets, blaming the victim, and unpredictability.
Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime.
About 1 in 5 women and nearly 1 in 7 men who ever experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner, first experienced some form of partner violence between 11 and 17 years of age.
A pattern in abuse is using children as a way to gain power and control.
Ways you can help someone in a situation of relationship violence include acknowledging their situation, validating their experience, letting them know help is available, and respecting their choice by not abandoning them.
Six ways that relationship violence can manifest itself are emotionally/verbally, physically, sexually, socially, economically, and technologically. These can include things like threatening, refusing to use contraceptives, or consistently tracking your location.
36.9% of Utah women and 19.6% of Utah men experience intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner sexual violence, and/or intimate partner stalking in their lifetimes.
One in six women in the United States have experienced stalking victimization at some point during their lifetime in which they believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed.
Abusive partners can gain power and control by using threats and intimidation, emotional abuse, economic abuse, denying and blaming, and using isolation.
43% of dating college women report experiencing some violent and abusive dating behaviors including physical, sexual, tech, verbal or controlling abuse.
Relationship cycles of violence can include a “honeymoon phase”, a “tension-building phase”, and then an “explosive incident”. One or more forms of violence is demonstrated during the explosive incident which could happen again as the cycle repeats itself.
Nearly 1 in 5 women have been raped in their lifetime.
In 2012, more than 3,114 women, men, and children entered shelters in Utah to escape domestic violence.
On average, 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate part in the United States.
Victims of domestic violence often experience a wide array of emotions including feeling depressed, isolated, dependent on their abuser, or fearful they will not have support from their friends or family.
Nearly half of all women and men in the United States have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
A common warning sign of dating abuse is isolation from friends or family. Other warning signs include constant put-downs, explosive temper, and making false accusations.
![Front of shirt: Hot-pink t-shirt with black writing that says, “This is what happened. I'm 14 your [sic] 17 do you know about sex? No! Then let me show you!” Under this is No! Written over and over getting larger in size with each one.](https://www.usu.edu/ldp/galleries/.private_ldp/a260164/production/master/9e5f472a-661e-467a-a367-6c0f7275cfd8.jpg)
![Back of shirt: Orange t-shirt with black writing that says, “Daddy, why did you use me? Were your pleasures more important then [sic] my tears. Daddy, Why did you use me? Was I just another game you liked to play? Daddy, how could you use me? I NEEDED YOU! I NEEDED YOU! But you took it all away. You took away the hope, the trust, the faith and left me here alone to feel so ashamed and in PAIN! But I've found a better way!](https://www.usu.edu/ldp/galleries/.private_ldp/a260164/production/master/7f4fdc6e-b354-45f6-a87d-a1a9f3e17ae0.jpg)
![Front of shirt: Red collared shirt with a drawing of a broken heart in the top right corner. Below it it says, “Just about every [female symbol] I meet is a victim of abuse, including those who never knew it…b/c of SOCIETAL BRAINWASHING!” Societal brainwashing is in white while the rest of the words are written in black.](https://www.usu.edu/ldp/galleries/.private_ldp/a260164/production/master/b8b8bf7b-8f1d-4e02-a7ee-ba16de246334.jpg)
