Rinamay Rhoten | Staff Writer | @rinamaylopez
On Monday, October 20 and Tuesday, October 21, Utah Valley University students viewed an issue that affects our entire community – domestic violence. The Clothesline Project hang lines of shirts across an entire room to bring awareness of abuse in our community. Around 1,515 people attended this event and 155 new shirts were made. All the shirts told stories of abuse in Utah.
Even in a community as conservative as Utah Valley, abuse happens every day and the Clothesline Project attempts to highlight the issue. It was also a therapeutic way for victims of abuse to know that they are not alone or forgotten and share their story. The project tried to motivate people to wear a purple ribbon for a week to help support violence awareness.
Turning Point hosted the event and provided much-needed information for victims of abuse. The colors of the shirts represented the different categories of violence: white for individuals who died as a result of violence, yellow for survivors of physical assault, pink, red or orange for survivors of rape or sexual assault, blue or green for survivors of incest or childhood abuse, lavender or purple for survivors of attack due to sexual orientation, black for those disabled as a result of an attack, gray or brown for survivors of emotional, spiritual or verbal abuse.
As each person walked in, they heard three different sounds – a gong every 10 to 12 seconds, which indicated women who were assaulted; a whistle every two minutes, which indicated someone being raped; a bell to represent women that are killed every day by their partners. People were very respectful and wanted to remember those who had died and paid honor to those that had survived from the abuse.
The Clothesline Project was displayed on October because this month is domestic violence awareness month. People who wanted to share their story were welcome to write down and display a shirt. Turning Point also provided free counseling services and information.
“One of the primary goals of the Clothesline Project is to let survivors know that they are not alone and that there is hope. It takes tremendous courage to make a shirt for the Clothesline Project. We hope that everyone who reads the shirts will be inspired to commit to ending the epidemic of violence, ” said Jennie Briggs, of UVU Turning Point.
For more information regarding resources for victims of abuse, please contact the Turning Point Center.
