The Clothesline Project

The Virtual Clothesline Project

The Clothesline Project is a national movement focused on creating a visual reminder of the impact that power-based personal violence has had on our community, turning statistics into shirts. The movement gives a voice to those who have been silenced, sending the message that help is available and there is a path to healing.

In Fall 2020, during the virtual and hybrid learning environment, Penn State Gender Equity Center launched Penn State’s first virtual Clothesline Project, providing campus community members with t-shirt templates to create shirts which display words of support for survivors, stories of a personal experience, and/or messages taking stand against power-based personal violence.

Understanding the Color Codes

Shirts are color-coded to highlight the form of violence and type of violence experienced by the individual making the shirt or experienced by the individual who the shirt is made in honor of. See the color code below:

• White: People who died as a result of violence

• Yellow: Survivors of physical assault and/or dating/domestic violence or abuse

• Red: Survivors of rape and/or sexual assault

• Pink: Survivors of rape and/or sexual assault

• Orange: Survivors of rape and/or sexual assault

• Blue: Survivors of incest or childhood sexual abuse

• Green: Survivors of incest or childhood sexual abuse

• Purple: Survivors of attacks due to perceived or actual sexual orientation

• Brown: Survivors of emotional, spiritual, or verbal abuse

• Grey: Survivors of emotional, spiritual, or verbal abuse

• Black: Those disabled as the result of an attack or assaulted because of a disability