The Clothesline Project

The Clothesline Project, which began in the U.S. in 1990, is a vehicle for women affected by violence to express their emotions and experience by decorating a T-shirt. The shirt is then hung on a clothesline to be viewed by others, as testimony to the problem of violence against women. It’s a display of society’s ‘dirty laundry’ that aims to take the issue of violence against women out of the shadows. In Campbell River, there is also an annual display called ‘These Hands Don’t Hurt’ where non-abusive males trace their hands on a white sheet in support of this cause. Decorated T-shirts may be a statement against any kind of violence, or a statement of hope for the future. Blue and red T-shirts represent sexual abuse, yellow or beige T-shirts represent abuse by a partner, white T-shirts represent murder, purple T-shirts represent assault because of sexual orientation and green T-shirts represent children who have been affected by violence. Throughout Prevention of Violence Against Women Week, T-shirts will also be displayed on the balconies and public areas of Rose Harbour, the second-stage housing provided by the Campbell River and North Island Transition Society on Dogwood Street. The Clothesline Project and Prevention of Violence Against Women Week is an opportunity for our community to reflect on violence against women and to speak out against it. Living without violence is a basic human right, but studies show that 760,000 or four per cent of Canadians over the age of 15 have experienced abuse from an intimate partner. Women are more likely than men to experience severe and frequent violence from a spouse or someone they are dating.