Dozens of colored T-shirts with hand-written messages hung from clotheslines, fluttering lightly in the breeze.
Orange. Magenta. Sky blue. Red.
From a distance, they seemed to cheer the Cal State Fullerton campus on Wednesday, April 16. But up close, the messages were halting, not whimsical.
“A child can’t consent.” “You raped me, but it does not define me.” “You broke me, but I repaired myself.” “I forgive you.”
Lissandra Tong, 20, reads t-shirt messages during the one-day Clothesline Project display at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The exhibit of hand-written messages by sexual assault victims, coincides with the annual Sexual Assault Awareness Month. “I feel like I have a moral duty to read them all,” Tong said. “Everyone deserves to be heard.” (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Dozens of t-shirts with hand-written messages by sexual assault victims hang on a Clothesline at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The one-day Clothesline Project traveling display brings attention to Sexual Assault Awareness Month. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Lissandra Tong, 20, uses Google Translate to read a t-shirt with a message written in german. It was part of the Clothesline project display at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, that empowers rape victims and victims of domestic violence and murder. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Dozens of t-shirts, with hand-written messages by sexual assault victims, hang on a Clothesline at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The one-day Clothesline Project traveling display brings attention to Sexual Assault Awareness Month. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Dozens of t-shirts with hand-written messages by sexual assault victims hang on a closeline at Cal State Fullerton on
Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The one-day Clothesline Project traveling display brings attention to Sexual Assault Awareness Month. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A butterfly, often a symbol of transformation, change and rebirth, lands, perhaps appropriately, on a t-shirt with a hand-written message about sexual assault. The Clothesline Project made it’s one-day stop at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Dozens of t-shirts, with hand-written messages by sexual assault victims, hang on a Clothesline at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The one-day Clothesline Project traveling display brings attention to Sexual Assault Awareness Month. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Grad student Aaron Gonzalez, 24, reads t-shirts adorned with messages about sexual assault during the one-day Clothesline Project exhibit at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. “These strong and brave people teach men how they should behave,” Gonzalez said. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Lissandra Tong, 20, reads t-shirt messages during the one-day Clothesline Project display at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. The exhibit of hand-written messages by sexual assault victims, coincides with the annual Sexual Assault Awareness Month. “I feel like I have a moral duty to read them all,” Tong said. “Everyone deserves to be heard.” (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The display was part of The Clothesline Project, an annual exhibit that aims to empower victims of sexual assault. It coincides with Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
“One in four women will be sexually assaulted before they turn 18,” said Vanessa Reyna of Waymakers, a nonprofit that oversees Orange County’s sexual assault victim services program and sponsors the traveling exhibit.
“Each shirt represents a person,” Reyna said. “It represents each survivor’s story. This is more impactful than statistics.”
As people strolled past the display on Wednesday, a butterfly, often a symbol of transformation, change and rebirth, perched itself on a light blue shirt.
The Clothesline Project launched in 2001 with eight T-shirts. In the 24 years since, its organizers have collected 1,300 shirts. Victims can anonymously create a T-shirt that will be rotated in displays.
The project will visit Irvine Valley College on April 29 and Cypress College on May 7. Waymakers’ Rape Crisis Hotline is 714-957-2737.
