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Domestic, Dating Violence Awareness, Myths Highlighted, Examined


tee shirt clothesline project

October is Domestic Violence Month, and SUNY Plattsburgh has been showcasing a whole host of events to call attention to both domestic and dating violence.

Often the most visible event that frames Domestic Violence Month has become the Clothesline Project, which has its roots on Cape Cod, Mass., when survivors of abuse and sexual assault hung 31 shirts across the Hyannis Village Green 34 years ago. The Clothesline Project has since grown to a nationwide exhibit. At SUNY Plattsburgh, tee shirts with messages of despair, sadness, hope and caring were strung along the Angell College Center grand staircase as well as that closest to Feinberg Library.

“I have had people thank me for hanging the shirts, asking where they can make one,” said Kim Irland, Title IX coordinator. A “paper shirt clothesline” has been strung on the wall across from Irland’s second floor ACC office featuring messages written by students, faculty and staff.

paper tee shirt line“Some were from survivors; many chose to write messages of solidarity and support,” she said. “I wanted to emphasize that our community supports survivors. Everyone’s needs can differ. I saw people calling out harmful behavior like manipulation and bullying. It’s why I like the project — it gives people the opportunity to do that.”

Irland has seen people stopping to read the messages on display.

“The goal of the national project is to engage people here. It is about our community; it’s also about the conversation on how to grow the project,” she said.

And the tee shirts send a powerful message, Irland said.

“We associate a tee shirt with a human being, something someone has warn on a human body. It’s a visual impact — each one representing a person’s experience.”

materials tableThroughout October, Irland, Wellness and Health Promotion Coordinator Heather Bennett, and Chris Chamars, coordinator of multicultural initiatives, have supported one another in their endeavors to promote health and wellness.

“Chris and Heather coordinated World Mental Health Day Oct. 10, which was a nice compliment to the Clothesline Project, which I hung Oct. 7,” Irland said.

Domestic, Dating Violence

Additionally, Irland said she has coupled dating violence with domestic violence awareness, saying that dating violence is one of “the higher behaviors that get reported here (at SUNY Plattsburgh) and nationally.”

Domestic and dating violence can involve a whole host of behaviors, Irland said.

“It’s not just the criminal offense. It can be emotional, verbal, financial abuse as well as the physical abuse,” she said.

According to the National Domestic Abuse Hotline,

  • 43% of dating college women report experiencing violent and abusive dating behaviors including physical, sexual, digital, verbal, or other controlling abuse
  • Nearly 1 in 3 college women (29%) say they’ve been in an abusive dating relationship
  • 52% of college women report knowing a friend who’s experienced violent and abusive dating behaviors including physical, sexual, digital, verbal, or other controlling abuse
  • 57% of college students who report experiencing dating violence and abuse said it occurred in college
  • 58% of college students say they don’t know what to do to help someone who is a victim of dating abuse
  • 38% of college students say they don’t know how to get help for themselves if they experience dating abuse as a victim
  • Over half of all college students (57%) say it’s difficult to identify dating abuse
  • 36% of dating college students have given a dating partner their computer, email, or social media passwords; these students are more likely to experience digital dating abuse
  • 1 in 5 college women has been verbally abused by a dating partner
  • 1 in 6 college women (16%) has been sexually abused in a dating relationship

A number of workshops have been held this month on healthy relationships, which, Irland hopes “will get to the root cause of domestic and dating violence.”

“If our goal is to get to that cause and prevent harm, we have to get to the ‘why,’ what people think and feel while the abuse is happening. ‘Hurt’ people hurt people,” she said. “The majority of people who inflict violence were inflicted upon and victims of violence of one type or another.”

Experiencing Harm

Irland said that she spends time in her trainings asking who can experience harm and how.

“I will ask students what kind of cultural messages they’ve received. How do people experience harm? Employees might harm students. Students might harm employees. Employees might harm other employees.

“But anyone of any gender/sexual identity could cause or receive the harm. Busting that myth is very important, and very difficult. We see it in headlines, videos, music, entertainment. And how are we informed by our own caretakers to think of these ideas — it takes time to understand how myths are perpetuated,” Irland said. “We are products of our cultures.”

For more information on Domestic Violence Awareness Month and other initiatives in the Title IX office, contact Irland at 518-564-3281 or email [email protected].

— Story, Photos by Associate Director of Communications Gerianne Downs

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