Clothing Exhibit Fights Sexual Assault Myths
A clothing exhibit at the University of New Brunswick asked: “What were you wearing when you were sexually assaulted?”
The Fredericton Sexual Assault Centre, or FSAC, organized this exhibit to share stories of sexual assault from women and students in the Fredericton community. It serves to deconstruct the myth that someone’s clothing can cause their sexual assault.
Maggie Forsythe is the Campus Sexual Assault Support Advocate and helped put the exhibit together. She works for FSAC and offers support for university students who experience sexual violence.
After a sexual assault, survivors often experience shaming and victim blaming, especially regarding their own actions, clothing and behavior.
“So often you hear things like, ‘What were you thinking going downtown wearing those clothes or looking like that; you’re just asking for it,'” says Forsythe. “We really want to make a point to talk about how no one is asking for it at any point and sexual violence happens in any type of situation.”
The sixteen outfits and stories featured at the exhibit showed exactly that: sexual violence happens in diverse situations. The outfits were replications of the clothing described in the survivor’s stories. They included: a pink dress; a black and white stripped crop t-shirt and black jeans; light blue pajama pants and a navy long-sleeve shirt; a white blouse and black pencil skirt; and, a stripped t-shirt and denim cut-off shorts.
Like the outfits, the stories also vary. In one situation, a woman woke up to find her ex-husband sexually assaulting her after he sneaked into the house. When she told the police, they recommend she change her locks. In another story, an eight-year-old was sexually assaulted by a relative.
One of the other stories read: “My first day of a backpacking trip alone. Had not even changed out of my airplane clothes. I was told it was my fault for trusting him, and for a long time I believed it. I don’t anymore.”
Jenn Murray, a UNB student, felt the emotion in these stories and understands the message the exhibit hopes to spread.
“You don’t need a face to know the effects of what sexual assault can do to a person,” says Murray. “You see a memory attached to an article of clothing and how powerful that memory can linger beyond the event itself and how it can affect someone.”
Forsythe says the response has been mainly positive. It helps victims feel empowered while also staying anonymous. Forsythe says some negative responses consider the exhibit too raw, but she says that’s good.
“When we talk about sexual violence we need to start talking about them in really real ways and not just skirting around the issue,” says Forsythe. “We need to be showing them these are real people and these are real stories.”
To find out more about FSAC, follow this link:
http://fsacc.ca/en
To learn more about the origins of the exhibit, click here:
