Content Warning: Sexual violence, child sexual abuse, rape, intimate partner violence
Following their recent success in the second annual Sex Quiz fundraiser, the Thursdays in Black exec held the What I Was Wearing exhibit in the Main Common Room last week between Wednesday and Friday.
Rata (events coordinator) and Elle (co-director) explained to Critic Te Ārohi that the idea behind ‘What I Was Wearing’ is that a lot of survivors often get asked, “Well, what were you wearing?” It’s a question that implies it’s the victim’s fault. “As if that’s some kind of justification for harming somebody – like maybe if they were wearing a more revealing outfit or something,” she said.
The Thursdays in Black Otago branch have been hosting the event for a few years now, a movement working towards a world free from sexual violence. The outfits displayed ranged from work and school uniforms, oversized t-shirts, pajama sets, and lingerie. The wide variety dispels the myth that clothing has anything to do with sexual harm. “We know what you wear doesn’t cause you to be sexually harmed,” Rata said. “That’s simply not true.”
Many students wandered past the Main Common Room last week to see the TiB team. For the exhibit, the exec secured twenty display boards to visually represent the stories of sixteen survivors, alongside media submissions – something Rata described as “wholesome”. The media submissions included poems, art, and songs that uplifted survivors. “Reading through all of that stuff does take the edge off such a dark topic,” Rata said, with some works noting that the survivor was doing much better since.
Submissions for the exhibition were made through a form that allowed Rata and Elle to reconstruct many of the outfits using clothes from Habitat for Humanity and Red Cross. “We had to use our imagination a bit,” the pair explained. The effect is confronting, but grounds the exhibit. Survivors dress for all walks of life.
With such a confronting undertaking, both referenced the throes of ACC therapy that ultimately prepped them with the mental tools to undertake a project like this. “It is always pretty devastating op-shopping for children’s clothes, knowing that this is what someone was raped in,” they said. But Rata said that knowing that they're doing it for a great purpose alongside an exec with the “right heart” made sure that they weren’t emotionally burnt out from the process.
The most rewarding part for the duo was knowing that people trust TiB with these stories. “It’s great to know that we’re enough of a safe space, that we’re doing our job well enough, that they can hand them in,” said Elle. She also loves the sticky notes that guests have an option to pin up on the display boards; she saved one from last year that simply says “chur, my bro”. “Real,” Elle said. “Thanks for writing that, diva.”
Critic Te Ārohi says a big chur to a world without sexual harm.