Topic: Jill Eichhorn

Clothesline Project bears witness to sexual, domestic violence

October 13, 2008 |

Austin Peay State University will advocate those who have been affected by acts of sexual violence with the Clothesline Project. The event is open to the public and takes place at 8 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 16 at the Morgan University Center Plaza.

The Clothesline Project is an international event that bears witness to the effects of sexual violence in the community. The project gives its participants the opportunity to print T-shirts in honor of men and women who are survivors of sexual and domestic violence. These shirts will be displayed on a clothesline to raise awareness of the impact violence has on the community.

The Clothesline Project (CLP) originated on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1990, and was designed to address the issue of violence against women. Women affected by violence express their emotions by decorating a shirt. They then hang the shirt on a clothesline to be viewed by others as testimony to the problem of violence against women. Locally the Clothesline Project has also been displayed at the Clarksville-Montgomery County Library. «Read the rest of this article»

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APSU to host Ensler’s Vagina Monologues

By Debbie Boen | February 21, 2008 |

The Vagina Monologues will be presented at APSU Clement Auditorium on Feb. 26-27 at 7 p.m. Admission is $5.00.

One in three women are raped, mutilated and/or assaulted, says Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues. If that’s the case, why don’t we hear about it all the time, everyday, every hour? Because women have a tendency to think that it’s their fault.

Dr. Jill Eichhorn, Coordinator of APSU’s Women’s Studies Program, teaches The Vagina Monologues class, a class whose students participate in The Vagina Monologues production. This is the 7th year The Vagina Monologues has been presented at Austin Peay State University. Eichhorn hopes to help women claim control over their lives, their bodies and their voices. She wants women to release the shame that comes from sexual abuse, including the abuse that women and girls experience daily when they see women objectified on the media.

Dr. Eichhorn (left) with Eve Ensler at Vanderbilt University

Women think that the horrible feeling they have after being assaulted somehow belongs to them. Being invaded or touched inappropriately invalidates them incredibly. It makes them feel as if their own body is disgusting, that their body has betrayed them; they hate it for that. They think that they have become the nasty, fear-based, controlling, invasive feeling that they are left with. It makes them feel so low down that they cannot speak up. «Read the rest of this article»

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