Photo // Arin Howe
LOVE SHOULDN’T HURT. Attendees of the Domestic Violence Awareness One shirt of many at IU South Bend’s Clothesline project. These shirts were hung outside of the Weikamp building.
By: Claire McKenna
Staff-Writer
On Oct. 28, the Honors Club hosted their annual walk for domestic violence awareness. Earlier this month, the club sponsored the annual t-shirt making event, the Clothesline Project, with Women and Gender Studies. To commemorate the end of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the group used the awareness walk to help the IU South Bend community understand domestic violence and spread awareness about resources in the community.
The walk stayed on campus and visited four different stops. The first was the Clothesline Project outside of Wiekamp Hall, facing Mishawaka Avenue. Student Molly Martz spoke about the history of the worldwide Clothesline Project and why it exists, noting that IU South Bend contributed to this movement.
“The Clothesline Project is a visual display of shirts with graphic messages and illustrations that have been designed by women survivors of violence or by someone who loves a woman who has been killed,” the Clothesline Project website states. “The purpose of the Project is to increase awareness of the impact of violence against women, to celebrate a woman’s strength to survive and to provide another avenue for her to courageously break the silence that often surrounds her experience.”
After Martz spoke, attendees took some time to look at all the shirts made by IU South Bend students, and some made by staff from the Family Justice Center of St. Joseph County.
Our next stop was one statue on campus, where we stopped and Ela Dean spoke about the different types of abuse, different red flags a person should look for and some statistics about the number of abuse cases rising throughout the years.
“Every year, the number of abuse cases goes up,” Dean stated. “Nearly one in four women, that’s 22.3%, and one in seven men, 14%, have been victims of severe intimate partner abuse in their life.”
As we headed to the red bridge that crosses from campus to housing, the leaders reminded us that this walk should be silent as to honor the victims that have experienced domestic abuse.
At the red bridge, we had a moment of silence for those that were lost to domestic abuse. Samantha Czyz told us that around 50% of women killed are killed by a boyfriend or husband. They acknowledged that this can be deadly for men as well.
We quickly walked to the statue in front of the library to talk about the history of resources and getting help when in domestic abuse situations. Professor Cathy Borshuk told us a little about how society still acts towards victims.
“The most dangerous time to be a victim of an abuser is when you leave that relationship,” Dr. Borshuk reminded everyone. “Sometimes the reason people stay in bad relationships is because it is safer to stay.”
But there are places to find help. Two resources, the YWCA and the FJC came to talk about the resources they had and what they can do to help victims. They both reminded us to listen to victims and take their experiences seriously. If you or someone you know is in a situation that you believe to be domestic violence, you can visit ywca.org or fjcsjc.org and find free counseling through TimelyCare or the IU South Bend Counseling Center.