“What Were You Wearing?” Exhibit Put on by FSU Social Work Students

During November, undergraduate (BSW) social work students in faculty member Carol Campbell Edward’s Diversity and Social Justice Class put on their own “What Were You Wearing?” Exhibit to increase awareness of sexual assault and clothing bias.

“Students in this class are challenged to engage in a service project of their creation during the semester to give them hands-on experience with advocacy,” Carol said. “We were trying to dispel some of the biases and perceptions that what you’re wearing provokes a sexual assault and that somehow you’re partially to blame. It doesn’t matter what you’re wearing. Sexual assault is sexual assault.”

The exhibit was inspired by the original exhibit put on at the University of Kansas (UK), which collected and displayed 18 outfits of rape survivors and their stories. The UK exhibit brought much-needed attention to the exhibit's purpose of dispelling victim-blaming myths that what someone was wearing caused an assault or dressing differently may have prevented an assault.

BSW student Molly Shearer came up with the idea to reprise the exhibit at Florida State, and her BSW classmates were eager to bring the concept to the attention of FSU students and the community. “We all really liked the idea and agreed it was a worthy cause. The whole class is invested,” BSW classmate Bryan Bevil said.

 “It became such a community effort from starting off as one person in the class to the entire class getting really excited about it,” said Kat Jacobs, a teaching assistant and doctoral student at FSU College of Social Work said. “We reached out to the people at FSU who were also very excited about it as well.”

The class put together a broad survey with questions on victims’ experiences and what they were wearing to collect stories on the subject, and were surprised to receive 20 responses in the first week the survey was sent out. The survey’s language was carefully crafted to prevent triggering fear or trauma from respondents.

Using the responses from the survey, the class set up the exhibit of 10 outfits accompanied by their stories in the College of Social Work’s Student Collaboration Lab. “We tried to include and engage anyone who wanted to participate,” BSW student Virgina Scott said. “The event aimed at providing a space to encourage meaningful dialogue.” The students made themselves accessible during the exhibit to encourage visitors to engage in meaningful conversations on the topic.

Kat Jacobs indicated that many sexual assaults go on FSU’s campus and go unnoticed. “it’s important to give people an opportunity to share their stories without having to go through a re-traumatization,” she stressed.

And the exhibit gave a voice to several nameless, faceless victims of sexual assault, creating a safe space for productive conversations on a serious and sensitive issue. A common theme of victim-blaming also emerged from several of the stories, with many of the victims having to remind themselves that the assault was not their fault. The exhibit included many different styles of clothing, and included male clothing to ensure equal representation and to convey that anyone can experience and be affected by sexual assault.

“It’s a sad, somber reality. But, when we started talking about it most of the students could identify a person that they know that had experienced this. We talked about how pervasive this is in each of our lives,” Carol concluded.

To view additional photos of the exhibit, visit the FSU College of Social Work Facebook page.