Mississippi State University students raise awareness for sexual assault by hanging their stories on clotheslines on the Drill Field. The Clothesline Project is a three-day event where volunteers can decorate a T-shirt representing how they, or someone they know, has been affected by sexual assault.
In 1990, a group of women from Cape Cod, Mass., decided it wanted to break the silence. One of the women, Rachel Carey-Harper, presented the idea to make T-shirts and hang them on a clothesline to make the well-kept secrets of so many known.
According to The Clothesline Project official website, the event raises awareness and creates freedom for victims of sexual assault, while letting women share their individual stories through artwork on T-shirts. After decorated, the T-shirts are hung on clotheslines.
“This very action serves many purposes. It acts as an educational tool for those who come to view the clothesline. It becomes a healing tool for anyone who makes a shirt. By hanging the shirt on the line, survivors, friends and family can literally turn their back on some of that pain of their experience and walk away. Finally, it allows those who are still suffering in silence to understand that they are not alone,” the website stated.
The MSU Clothesline Project allows any child or adult, male or female, to participate. 
Each colored T-shirt holds a different meaning. Yellow stands for men and women who have been battered or assaulted. Red, pink or orange stand for men and women who have been raped or sexually assaulted. White stands for men and women who have died of violence. Blue or green stand for for men and women who have been victims of incest or child sexual abuse. Purple stands for men and women who have been attacked because of their sexual orientation. Black stands for men and women who have been attacked for political reasons.
Leah Pylate, assistant director of Health Education Wellness and Sexual Assault, said it is vital the public is made aware of sexual violence and begins to take action.
“We cannot ignore the issue. The Clothesline Project brings awareness to crimes of violence against men, women and children, and it is important for the campus community to take action and not allow these crimes to continue,” she said. “According to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, in a woman’s lifetime, one in five have been raped and one in six have been stalked. Also, according to the same report, one in four women have experience severe physical violence from an intimate partner,” Pylate said. 
Lesley Hammers, senior educational psychology major, was a volunteer for last year’s Clothesline Project. Hammers said the experience changed the way she views her life and the lives of others. 
“Before volunteering with the Clothesline Project, I never thought about how other students my age were going through really hard experiences. Walking through and reading the T-shirts was really eye opening. A lot of times we take our lives for granted, not realizing how much others have been and are going through right now,” she said. “I am now a lot more grateful for my life and hope to make others aware of the hurt that is happening to so many people around us.”
The decision of a small group of women from Cape Cod, Mass., to stand up for what they believed in has grown and spread to reach people throughout the nation. In October of 1990, 31 people hung up their stories. Today, an estimated 500 projects nationally and internationally make an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 T-shirts.
MSU’s Clothesline Project will be held on the Drill Field Sept. 24-26 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.