Narratives about violence: The words of college students

The Clothesline Project was created in 1990 to give women a creative outlet for describing their experiences with violence. Survivors of violence print messages on t-shirts which are displayed for the public during different events such as Victims’ Rights Week and Sexual Assault Awareness Week. Approximately 300 different projects are held each year in various locations across the world. In the current study, we examined the kinds of messages printed on the t-shirts by 48 participants in a Clothesline Project held on a college campus. The following five themes were uncovered: (1) messages to survivors, (2) messages to potential offenders, (3) love themes, (4) prevention themes, and (5) awareness-based themes. Implications are provided.