Displays evoke sexual assault awareness

By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Graphic expressions protesting sexual assault, in the words of victims on T-shirts, shawls and jeans, are on display in Houlton to raise awareness during April about the problem of sexual violence. Local exhibits and programs in town and throughout the county are part of larger national and international movements to educate the public and define what actually constitutes sexual violence and assault.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
DENIM DAY — Tuesday, April 20 is National Denim Day to protest sexual assault. Awareness projects such as this one in the window of Visions on Main St. are on display throughout the county.

Clothesline Project
    The “Clothesline Project” gives a chilling witness and first-hand voice to victims of rape, incest, domestic violence and other forms of sexual assault by presenting the victims’ own words on painted T-shirts.
    At the Houlton Higher Education Center (HHEC) the words “Keep your hands to yourself” and “Please don’t turn a blind eye” are painted on T-shirts that hang on a clothesline. The “Shawl Project,” also hanging in HHEC tells similar stories with weaving distinctive to Native American heritage and culture. Those two projects, says Jane Root, Maliseet Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Program director, are “a way to visually bring awareness to the issue and have more impact than just words on a paper.”
    Disturbing and intense, the colorful display of shawls speaks to the public with the first-person words of survivors. A vivid red shawl in part says: “I loved you. You hit me.” A bright blue shawl proclaims: “I am a survivor.” Root said victims can be male or female.
National Denim Day
    On Tuesday, April 20, Root and Katie Bell, Aroostook Mental Health Center (AMHC) sexual assault advocate, are urging people to wear jeans in support of National Denim Day. A display is in the window of the Blue Moon Gallery at Visions on Maine St. One pair of very small jeans are inscribed with: “Please don’t.” Another pair protests: “You took my innocence.”
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
CLOTHESLINE PROJECT — At the Houlton Higher Education Center, a clothesline displaying T-shirts and Native-American shawls helps heighten sexual assault awareness.
    Root said “the jeans were decorated and inscribed by victims to express their experiences.” It is the first time, Root said, that Denim Day is being observed in Aroostook County. She added the intention is “not about raising money, it’s about raising awareness.”
    The international movement grew as an objection to a 1999 Italian Supreme Court case overturning a rape conviction. A court ruled that the victim had to be a willing participant because her jeans were too tight for the perpetrator to remove them by himself.
Cupcake walk/run
    A 5K-run and two-mile walk in conjunction with the Aroostook Musterds will start at the Millar Civic Center with registration at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 24.
    Bell said she hopes to have a good turnout from Aroostook County residents and is pleased with the level of awareness that has been raised so far.
    Bell said “local businesses have supported the event by donating food and water for participants.” Root said all participants will get a cupcake and the winners will get cakes which is why it has been dubbed the “Cupcake Run.”
    For more free and confidential information on sexual assault services for men and women, contact: Aroostook Mental Health Center at (800) 550-3304; or Maliseet Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Program at 532-6401.