The “What Were You Wearing?” exhibit will return to The University of Toledo to kick off Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
The free exhibit hosted by the University’s Title IX Office will be on display Monday, April 1, through Thursday, April 4, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Carlson Library Room 1005.
“What Were You Wearing?” is a collection of 28 survivors’ stories and re-creations of the outfits they were wearing at the time of their assaults.
The goal of the project is to debunk the common rape myth that sexual violence happens because someone dresses a certain way or that they are “asking for it.”
“This exhibit corresponds with Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Our goal is to educate our students, faculty and staff so they understand the complex social dynamics influencing our treatment of survivors,” Lindsay Tuttle, coordinator for sexual misconduct education and prevention, said. “The more people we can train to be good bystanders, recognizing unhealthy social dynamics, and seeing sexual misconduct from more than just the perspective of popular media representations, the better off we all will be.”
The exhibit has been presented on campuses across the United States since it was created in 2013 and changes at each campus based on the submissions of the survivors of sexual assault.
“The power in this exhibit lies in our ability to hear from the survivors themselves,” Tuttle said. “We hear their account and build empathy, which could be the most powerful way to curtail interpersonal violence and see more clearly where the responsibility lies — squarely on the shoulders of those who cause harm.”
For more information on the “What Were You Wearing?” exhibit, call the Sexual Assault Education and Prevention Program at 419.530.4191.
