I Was Raped Project
Why wear a shirt that says “I Was Raped”?
- Because wearing it lets others know that they aren’t alone.
- Because wearing it invites conversation about a silenced experience that so many women and men share.
- Because rape is a crime that someone did to you, against your will.
- Because, as Maya Angelou says, “I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.”
- Because you shouldn’t be ashamed that you were raped; the perpetrator should be ashamed.
- Because being public shatters the very silence that enables rape to be so common.
- Because naming what has happened is the first step toward changing the reality of rape.
- Because legal redress is rarely served, so it’s crucial to find our own justice and acknowledgment.
~ Jennifer Baumgardner, “I Was Raped” project, 2008
A t-shirt like this may not be the right thing for everyone, or the right thing just anywhere: you might want it only for rallies or support meetings, to use for a Clothesline Project, or you might be at a point where you want it to take out in your neighborhood and do some guerrilla activism. We all have different ways of both healing and speaking out, and different environments in which we may want to do that. What it illustrates is how difficult rape can be to speak about, and how often those of us who have survived sexual assaults and abuses feel (largely because we are told, by our rapists and by the people around us) it is something shameful we must keep locked up inside ourselves: the open safe is a gesture of unlocking that silence, having that conversation, refusing to keep something which is often so huge so deeply hidden and silenced. If you think it’s the right thing for you or someone you know, you can get one here.
The shirts show an open safe with a small card inside which reads “I was raped.” They are designed by Vinnie Angel of Vinnie’s Tampon Case. A limited number of these t-shirts are available for $25, which includes shipping. $5 from each shirt will benefit Scarleteen, which provides holistic and inclusive sexuality education for young adults, including counseling, support and information for rape survivors and rape prevention efforts, and has for ten years. The remainder of your funds will cover the cost of the shirts and benefit the I Was Raped project per the production and distribution of more t-shirts.
