What Were You Wearing? Survivor Art Exhibit

The Sexual Violence Prevention & Response Office (SVPRO) is once again bringing the What Were You Wearing? Survivor Art Exhibit to UWaterloo. The exhibit is based on student-survivor descriptions of the clothing they were wearing when they experienced sexual violence.

Although progress is being made, we live in a society that still wrongfully blames victims for the harm they experience. Sexual violence is normalized, minimized and silenced.

The myth that clothing causes sexual violence, along with many other myths, are used to blame survivors and justify the actions of those who cause harm. Survivors are never to blame. The intent of this exhibit is to bring awareness and attention to the pervasiveness of sexual violence and victim blaming, debunk harmful myths and provide education about preventing sexual violence and supporting survivors.

The “What Were You Wearing?” Art Exhibit was inspired by Dr. Mary Simmerling’s poem, What I was Wearing, and was created at the University of Arkansas in 2013 by Jen Brockman and Dr. Mary Wyandt-Hiebert.