'What Were You Wearing?' is an eye-opening look at sexual assault

The power of the images hanging in the art gallery at Penn State, New Kensington, strike with lightning force once the words that accompany them deliver the context:

“White T-shirt and basketball shorts”

“A T-shirt and jeans”

“Khakis and a dress shirt”

“A bathing suit”

“A sundress. I was 6 years old.”

“Red leggings and a white T-shirt. That’s what I wore the night I was raped. I was 15.”

These are the words of survivors of rape and sexual assault speaking to us, reaching out to us and silently asking us to honor their candor, honor their hurt and to help change the culture of the myth that these crimes somehow are linked to what they were wearing at the time they took place.

The free “What Were You Wearing?” installation, is under way and open daily through
Oct. 31

National Domestic Violence Month

It arrives locally during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, as well as a moment in history in which the issue is in the international spotlight with the controversial Supreme Court nomination hearings.

In the past year alone, more than 150 “What Were You Wearing?” installations have been displayed around the world at colleges, military bases, community and government venues.

The showcase is displayed in any community and by any organization who has partnered with a victim advocacy program.

Demographic is everyone

“There is no target demographic and we encourage communities to customize the installation and take personalized ownership of it,” says project co-founder Jen Brockman, director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center at the University of Kansas.

“As individuals can identify with the various outfits, the installation asks that people reflect and evaluate what has enabled us as individuals and a society to ever ask the question, ‘What were you wearing?’ in the first place, yet alone give this question such unyielding power for blaming victims,” adds co-founder Dr. Mary A. Wyandt-Hiebert of the University of Arkansas.

She is director of the university’s Office of Support, Training, Advocacy, and Resources for Sexual and Relationship Violence, and an advisor to RESPECT, the campus peer education program.

Diverse stories and clothing

Although often the question of “What were you wearing?” is seldom, if ever, asked of anyone other than a woman, she adds, the installation includes diverse shared stories and representing outfits. The clothing was not actually worn during an assault, but representative of it.

Men’s outfits, children’s clothing, and clothing representative of various cultures and ages are hung alongside outfits representative of women.

“Part of the installation’s very nature is to call attention to rape culture attitudes and beliefs while debunking myths,” Wyandt-Hiebert says. Clothing is not inherently gendered, Brockman adds, so the installation can be displayed with gender representation across the spectrum by the communities who host it.

Uncomfortable but necessary

Michele Marcks, assistant director of student affairs at Penn State, New Kensington, says the exhibit represents an important topic for all campuses and communities to be discussing.

“It is uncomfortable, but something that must be discussed if we have any hope in stopping and preventing future sexual assaults, rapes, harassment incidents and domestic violence,” she says. “The exhibit carries a hugely impactful message and makes the conversation more real.”

Marcks also finds the installation “a perfect space” to have this conversation to support the Penn State bystander intervention initiative of Stand for State.

Stand for State focuses on sexual and relationship violence, mental health concerns, acts of bias and risky drinking and drug use.

“The goal is to create safe campus communities where everyone plays a role in protecting and supporting each other,” she explains.

There are no graphic images in the exhibit.

Cautions for children

As for children viewing and engaging with the display, Wyandt-Hiebert suggests anyone who considers exposing any form of sexual assault awareness education event to their child to “only do so if you are prepared and able to appropriately address any questions that your child may have in reference to the subject matter.”

Marcks recommends the installation for ages 13 and older with parents and teachers accompanying them. “This topic can be challenging for any individual. Caregivers are encouraged to have pre-conversations with children and also debrief after they tour the event,” Brockman adds. “Conversation should be scaled to be age appropriate and contextually accessible.”

Global impact

Wyandt-Hiebert says the project, first conceived in 2013 and mounted in 2014, has superseded all expectations. “We are truly grateful for the global interest and growing number of displays replicated around the world,” she says.

As long as we live in a society that propagates rape culture, then the need for such an exhibit will continue, she believes. “Creating trauma-informed environments in which individuals feel empowered to come forward can only help increase (a victim’s) likelihood to report,” she adds.

Brockman hopes that such exhibits help create a counternarrative in regard to victim blaming: “Instead of asking, ‘What were you wearing?’ we want to ask, ‘How can we help?’ ”

Rex Rutkoski is a Tribune-Review
contributing writer.