As part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, students worked together to take a stand against domestic abuse and to support its victims.
The Women’s Center and Women Organizing Women hosted the annual Clothesline Project on Monday at the Helen Carter House to combat domestic abuse.
The project involved decorating a T-shirt with a message about domestic violence and hanging it from a clothesline on campus near the center to be viewed until Friday.
Each shirt symbolizes a victim of domestic violence. The shirts’ messages represent a personal experience or protest domestic abuse. Some of the messages include: “Break the Silence,” “Love Shouldn’t Hurt” and “Flowers not Fists.”
“This is an important event at LSU. Although it’s only our second year, it is a lot of fun, and the message is powerful,” said Mariah Stidham, co-president of Women Organizing Women. Domestic violence is when one person in an intimate relationship uses various types of abuse – physical, mental, sexual and emotional – to manipulate his or her partner, according to the LSUPD.
Despite the rain, members of WOW, a student organization that works with Women’s and Gender Studies, and many students created nearly 100 T-shirts. The T-shirts will be taken down Friday and moved over the weekend to another Clothesline Project at Baton Rouge High for display on Sunday.
The Women’s Center and WOW have a variety of events scheduled in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
“We are going to start showing films that empower women. There are also things like ‘Take Back the Night’ and ‘Feminstration.’ We are feminist activists,” Stidham said.
Louisiana ranks third in the nation for domestic violence and related homicides, according to the Violence Policy Center in Washington. More than 42 rape cases, more than 900 assault charges and almost 40 homicides were reported to the Baton Rouge Police Department since the beginning of the year. Domestic abuse is filed under all of these categories.
In 2006, there were 60 assault charges and no rape cases on campus reported to LSUPD.
“I think it’s a really good thing for the community because a lot of people don’t think about domestic violence, but it’s one of the most prominent types of violence. If you raise awareness, you can help to stop it,” said A.T. Cook, advertising freshman and Clothesline Project volunteer.
—–Contact Gina Zanutto at [email protected]