Facilitating Student Awareness, Connection and Empowerment: The Clothesline Project

• In Event: 3423 - Teaching and Learning Symposium Roundtable
  In Informal Discussion Roundtable: Table 10: Political Climate and Civic Engagement

Abstract

The Clothesline Project involves student action in the creation of t-shirts that speak out against violence against women. The Project has its roots in 1990 when a group of women wanted a visual representation of the violence they had experienced, similar to the AIDS Quilt of 1987. The clothesline represents “women’s work” where women often spoke with their neighbors, sometimes “airing their dirty laundry.”

Students are invited to “speak out against violence” and given a choice of decorating colored shirts that represent different kinds of violence, i.e., red=sexual assault, yellow=physical abuse, green=molestation, and so on. They make their shirts anonymously, in a safe zone, knowing that afterward their t-shirts will be hung on a clothesline with 100+ others in a public exhibit. The clothesline exhibit is visually stunning and attracts media attention, and it gives participating students a sense of support and solidarity with others who have experienced abuse. For some, this is transformational, as evidenced by comment cards about the process of creating a shirt. The learning objective is to raise awareness that students are not alone, and that their voices can and should be heard. The approach is “teaching without teaching”; students are invited to express themselves and come to their own conclusions as they participate in the Project. This activity can be used in classes dealing with gender, deviance or conflict, and paper shirts or post-it notes may replace cloth for sustainability. Students may write papers that expand upon their stories or they may choose to reflect upon the entire exhibit. Participating in the project has proven to be a profound experience for many. It opens their eyes to abuse, connects students and encourages self-empowerment by “breaking the silence against violence,” dovetailing with the aims of the #MeToo movement.

Author

• Tanice G. Foltz, Indiana University Northwest