Girl Up Club honors sexual assault survivors with project
Shirts hang in the quad in honor of sexual abuse and assault survivors.
March 3, 2023
Shirts with bold, inked messages of hope and strength hung in the courtyard of the Moran Library. Their vibrant colors and powerful lettering were in honor of victims of domestic and sexual violence.
The shirts were hung up by the Girl Up Club for the Clothesline Project, which encouraged women who experienced personal violence to tell their stories through words and art on T-shirts.
The Girl Up Club has been working with the Clothesline Project for years to bring awareness to domestic violence and related resources to the Kinkaid community.
The Clothesline Project was started by a group of women in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, after 51,000 women were killed by men after the Vietnam War.
The women wanted to create to express their struggle in an educational and upfront way. They decided to have each woman decorate a shirt that told their story and hang it up on a clothesline. Not only did the clothesline spread awareness about abuse, but it also was a way for survivors to heal.
When Girl Up Club originally implemented the project, it only had messages of other people’s stories to let others know they aren’t alone. This year there were more messages of support and even hotline numbers on the shirts..
“Kinkaid Girl Up has put a spin on it to make it more uplifting for the community while still spreading awareness,” said junior Stella Hall, a member of the club.
The Girl Up Club encouraged members of the community to share their stories or uplifting messages in a drop box between the sophomore and junior hallways.
“I wish people knew how much their little messages can actually help someone,” Hall said.
