The Daily Gamecock

Clothesline Project spurs dialogue, provides support for survivors of sexual assault

The Clothesline Project event at USC has a goal to spark a conversation about sexual assault. 

Every year, a variety of events are put on to amplify the voices of survivors and get people involved in having conversations around consent and healthy relationships. The events are also designed to support the survivors of relationship violence, sexual assault, stalking and harassment. 

Jennifer Taylor is a program coordinator and victims advocate with the Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention and Prevention (SAVIP) office. Her role involves putting on events that students on campus would want to engage in. 

“Any time we do an event ... we’re trying to draw people into the event by having them do something with their hands or doing something creative, but the real goal is to have those dialogues and facilitate that conversation,” Taylor said.

Taylor’s hope was that having something lighthearted where anyone can come to craft in a safe environment would give the Carolina community the chance to have serious dialogue. 

“I’ve watched a lot of students walk by, and even if they don’t want to come up and have a conversation about what we’re doing or they don’t want to participate, I can hear snippets of conversation, and they’re speaking about what they’re seeing out here,” Taylor said.

SAVIP worked with the Changing Carolina Peer Leaders, an organization out of the student health services that works to promote healthy campus initiatives. The peers provided feedback to SAVIP on how to better relate the event to students. 

The Clothesline Project has taken place on USC’s campus in years past. Previously, shirts had simply been submitted and displayed. This year, the event was revised to make it more interactive. 

Students can decorate a shirt which would then be hung on a clothesline for display each day. The display serves to honor survivors and act as a memorial for victims. 

Emily Milz, a second-year pre-med student, is a member of the Changing Carolina Peer Leaders and helped to put this event together. 

“We have the table where people are actively painting shirts, which I think also sends a really cool message that it’s something that everybody can be involved with,” Milz said. “I think just the diversity of people that we’ve seen lined up to participate today is a testament to that.” 

A clothesline of colorful t-shirts hangs from tree to tree on Davis Field for passersby to see. 

“I think that the whole clothesline of shirts just shows that people are in agreement that sexual assault is an issue. It shows a sort of solidarity not only for survivors but for those who know people who have been sexually assaulted and those whose friends may have problematic views,” Milz said. “It shows that there is a movement on campus, it’s not just individual opinions.”

The project's interactive nature makes it hard for anyone to ignore the magnitude of the issue. Milz made the point that information cards could be handed out all day about what sexual assault means, but seeing these personal testaments is something that doesn’t go away.

“You know that sexual assault is a problem and it’s sort of like this out-there concept, but when you see it broken down and see that it’s happening to the women and men around you, it makes it hard to ignore,” Milz said.

The setting of a college campus allows for more conversation and discussion about serious topics such as this. 

“Campuses are places where we have a lot of great discussion and we really encourage open-minded dialogue and all of these different things,” Taylor said. “This needs to be a part of that too, talking about consent, making sure that we’re calling one another out, we're calling our friends out, when they're engaging in behavior that’s unhealthy or inappropriate and not just hoping that somebody else will take care of that because you are that somebody else.”

The Clothesline Project began on April 16 and will continue until April 19, and the event will run from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m each of those days.


Comments