By Nico MachlittSTAFF WRITER
On March 25, Student Advocates of Safe Sex and It Ends With Us helped Hofstra University hold its own Clothesline Project event. As victims, survivors, friends and family picked out shirts and decorated them, some spoke quietly and others reflected on their own experiences. They were all there for one common goal – to educate people about the realities of sexual assault.
Taylor Wade, sophomore English major, co-founder and public relations co-chair of It Ends with Us, spoke about its history. “This is our version of the Clothesline Project, a program that started a few years ago in Massachusetts, where they are basically trying to put a visual to sexual assault statistics,” said Wade. “So we do this so people who have survived certain events and people who are supporters of those people can express themselves.”
The Clothesline Project was created as a way to honor victims and survivors of violence, whether it is sexual or otherwise. Those who have been affected by the violence express their emotions through decorating a T-shirt. These shirts are then hung publicly on a clothesline as a memorial for the victims and to educate the public about violent crimes.
The event is for more than just victims and survivors, but for the whole Hofstra community.
“When we’re done with all of the T-shirts we are going to hang them up somewhere visible on campus. So, when people see it, if they have experienced something themselves, they know that they’re not alone,” said Wade.
The shirts were divided into piles with notes saying “Assaulted because of political reasons,” “Assaulted because of sexual orientation” and “Assaulted as an athlete,” showing the many different kinds of assault happening around us.
“When they are all hung up you have a really clear visual of how often these things are happening in the world,” said Wade.
Many students came because of their experiences with sexual assault. The shirts are a way for people to talk about their experiences but still remain anonymous.
“I know that certain people who I have communicated with either know someone who is involved with our program who are survivors, or they have something in their personal life that made them want to come make a shirt for that person if they maybe couldn’t or didn’t want to come,” said Wade. “I’ve had some people come and make shirts for other people. Some people are coming because they are trying to find a way to express themselves. Maybe they can’t find a way to say ‘I was raped’ or ‘I was molested,’ so this is a good way for them to express themselves without openly saying what happened to them.”
Gray Kennedy, sophomore community health major and public relations co-chair and graphic designer for It Ends with Us, helped explain the definition of consent and the confusion around the word.
“Consent is a verbal ‘yes,’ a verbal agreement without anyone trying to coerce you into doing something,” said Kennedy. “We talk about that a lot. If someone doesn’t answer you, if someone says ‘oh not tonight,’ even if they’ve previously had sex with you before, even if you’re in a relationship, if they don’t give you a verbal ‘yes,’ it’s not consent. If you don’t have that verbal ‘yes’ from the person, then you are having sex without consent.”
Sexual assault can be difficult to talk about because many people find that it is separate from their everyday lives.
“Everyone comes to college thinking that they’re not going to get raped,” said Wade. “They think, ‘I know not to walk alone at night,’ and ‘I know to protect my drink when I go out to the bar.’ Basic things like that. Nobody really talks about [sexual assault] because they think that it’s not as big of a deal as it is.”
It Ends with Us makes sure to also include men in conversations about sexual assault.
According to a September 2014 GQ article about male sexual assault victims in the military, “When a man enters the military he is 10 times more likely to be sexually abused, and in 2012 alone there were an estimated 14,200 reports of male rape.”
“It happens all around us and we rarely think about it, especially when it comes to men,” said Kennedy. “We not only raise awareness for females, but for males as well, and for a male to come out and say ‘I’ve been sexually assaulted,’ it emasculates him. And people say things like, ‘Oh, you can’t get raped, you’re a man.’”
Kennedy spoke about the event overall and what she hopes it achieves. “The whole purpose of It Ends With Us is that it’s awareness, and then education, and then it’s change.”
“Our goal is trying to make everyone aware of what is going on on this campus and with their friends and family. Then, we want to educate people on what is consent or how to deal if you are a victim of sexual assault or if you know someone who is a victim of sexual assault,” said Kennedy. “Once we get the awareness and the education then that is where the change comes from, so our movement is all about those three things. It’s the awareness, the education and the actual change of the culture.”