The Clothesline Project

Today, at Fullerton College, as I was walking across the quad, I noticed clothes lines with lots of t-shirts strung across them. As I looked closer, I noticed that the t-shirt display was a part of something called The Clothesline Project, whose purposes are "to give women survivors and the victims of violence and abuse a voice, to help the healing process for those who have lost a loved one or those who are survivors of this violence/abuse, to educate and to raise society's awareness of the extent of the problem of violence against women and sexual abuse of women.





I learned the following disturbing facts:

1.) Every nine seconds a woman is battered in the United States.
2.) Every minute a woman is raped in the United States.
3.) Every day four women are murdered in the United States.
4.) Three out of ten women raped are under the age of 11.
5.) Six out of ten women raped are under the age of 18.
6.) The American Medical Association has declared domestic violence an epidemic.
7.) The March of Dimes names battery as the number one cause of birth defects.

The concept of the clothesline project is to "let each woman tell her story in her own unique way, using words and/or artwork to decorate her shirt." The Project began in 1990 with 31 shirts. Today, it is estimated that there are over 625 projects nationally and internationally with an estimated 85,000 t-shirts. Projects are in at least 43 states and 5 countries (as far away as Tanzania).

I walked around the exhibit, taking pictures of some of the shirts...











































































To learn more about The Clothesline Project, visit their web site: www.clotheslineproject.org