April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). The mission of SAAM is to increase public understanding of sexual assault and educate communities on how to prevent it. We know that a single month isn’t enough to address the significant and widespread problem of sexual assault. However, April holds space for the attention, prevention efforts, and survivor support we hope to strengthen and expand throughout the year.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2023 Events
All Month
Teal Chair Project
Various Local Businesses
The Teal Chair Project serves as a reminder that no one has to go through the aftermath of sexual violence alone. The chairs are intended to also remind us that sexual violence happens right here in McLean County. Stop by a participating local business to show your support!
April 17
The Clothesline Project
9 am - 2 pm | Illinois State University
The Clothesline Project is a visual display bearing witness to violence against individuals. During the public display, a clothesline is hung with shirts decorated to represent an individual's experience, made by the survivor or a loved one.
April 29
Final Steps Awareness Walk
10 am - 12 pm | Miller Park
Join us in supporting survivors and Sexual Assault Awareness Month with a peaceful and accessible walk around the pond at Miller Park. Tables will be stationed along the route to provide information about Stepping Stones, kid's games and a therapeutic art activity.
April 07
The Clothesline Project
5-8 pm | McLean County Museum of History
The Clothesline Project is a visual display bearing witness to violence against individuals. During the public display, a clothesline is hung with shirts decorated to represent an individual's experience, made by the survivor or a loved one.
April 08
Survivor Love Letter
10 am - 2 pm | Illinois Art Station
Survivor Love Letter is a public art exhibition displaying letters of love, support, and solidarity with survivors of sexual violence. IAS visitors can create chalk-dipped stationary for community members, or themselves, to write their love letters on.
April 12
Support Table
10 am - 2 pm | IWU Student Center
YWCA Stepping Stones will be in attendance to raise awareness of our services among college students. Stop by the support table to learn about our services, meet our staff and show your support for survivors of sexual assault.
April 10 - 14
The Clothesline Project
Heartland Community College
The Clothesline Project is a visual display bearing witness to violence against individuals. During the public display, a clothesline is hung with shirts decorated to represent an individual's experience, made by the survivor or a loved one.
April 15
The Clothesline Project
10 am - 4 pm | Uptown Normal
The Clothesline Project is a visual display bearing witness to violence against individuals. During the public display, a clothesline is hung with shirts decorated to represent an individual's experience, made by the survivor or a loved one.
The Clothesline Project
In the summer of 1990, a coalition of women's groups on Cape Cod developed a program that would educate, break the silence and bear witness to violence against individuals.
The concept was simple - let each person tell their story in their own unique way, using words and/or artwork to decorate their shirt. Once finished, they would then hang their shirt on the clothesline. This very action serves many purposes:
- It acts as an educational tool for those who come to view the Clothesline
- It allows those who are still suffering in silence to understand that they are not alone
- It becomes a healing tool for anyone who makes a shirt - by hanging the shirt on the line, survivors, friends and family can literally turn their back on some of that pain of their experience and walk away
The Teal Chair Project
The Teal Chair Project raises awareness about incidents of sexual violence, sexual harassment, stalking, and other forms of interpersonal violence and the impact that not only has on survivors but on their families and the community as a whole.
Teal Chairs remind us that no one has to go through the aftermath of sexual violence alone. The chairs also remind us that sexual violence happens right here in McLean County.
Look for the teal chairs at one of our local business partners:
BCAI Cultural Arts & Humanities
Bloomington Police Department
Bloomington Public Library
Bloomington Spice Works
Bloomington-Normal Barber College
BobzBay
Campustown Supply Inc
Coffeehound
Common Grounds
Cookies by Design
Crossroads Fair Trade Goods & Gifts
Farrell's eXtreme Bodyshaping
First United Methodist Church
Fleet Feet
Fort Jesse Cafe
Fortify Salon
Fusion Brew
Galaxy Nails
Gigi Bottega
Graham Crackers Comics of Normal, IL
Green Top Grocery
Habitat for Humanity of McLean County
Habitat for Humanity Restore
Heartland Community College
Hewitt-Manchester
HSHM Activity Center
Illinois Tattoo Co.
Illinois Wesleyan University
Insomnia Cookies
ISU Common Area
ISU Counseling
ISU Criminal Justice Sciences
ISU Office of the Provost
ISU Performing Arts Center
ISU School of Music
ISU Speech and Hearing Center
ISU Students Ending Rape Culture
ISU Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
K-9 Country Club
LaLa Boutique
Maguire's
Main Street Yoga
Marquise Jewlers
MCCA
McLean County State's Attorney
Normal Police Department
Normal Public Library
North Street Records
OhmFit Activewear
Paul's Upholstery
Project Oz
Pub II
RE/MAX CHOICE
Reckless Saint
Serendipity Mercantile
Shake It Up Cocktail Lounge & Eatery
Shockwaves Skateboards
Smokin Aces Tattoo
Society the Salon
Starbucks (Uptown Normal)
The Bistro
The Garlic Press
The Hangar Art Co.
The Olive Bin
The Painted Wraith
The Workout Company Training Club
Under the Ground Blo-No
University Galleries
Vera & Buck
Victor's Alterations
Vitesse Cycle Shop
Yarn Garden
Final Steps Awareness Walk
Join us for a relaxing walk to raise awareness of Sexual Assault Awareness Month and show support for survivors!
By participating, you can help support survivors and raise awareness about the compounding impact of sexual violence. Participants will walk together to show their support for survivors and help create a safer and more supportive community.
Let's lace up our sneakers and walk together to show our support for survivors of sexual violence!
Survivor Love Letter
Survivor Love Letter is a movement for survivors of sexual assault and their allies to publicly celebrate their lives. It was started by filmmaker and activist, Tani Ikeda in 2012 on the anniversary of her rape where she penned a letter to her younger self that ended with the words:
“this is my survivor love letter.”
Since then, #SurvivorLoveLetter has rippled out and become a hashtag, a letter writing campaign, a national mural project, and a viral social movement. These letters have immersed thousands of survivors with the message that not only are they believed, not only are they supported, they are loved.
This year’s McLean County exhibit will be displayed at the Coffeehouse in Uptown Normal.
Contributors to the exhibition are invited to write letters or create other small artworks to honor a survivor they know, a survivor they don’t know, themselves, or the next generation of advocates against sexual violence.
Following the exhibition, the letters and artworks will make their way to North Carolina to be displayed at the annual Resilient Voices retreat. Resilient Voices is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that creates community and hosts retreats for survivors of sexual violence.
During Saturdays at the Station on April 8, young artists and their families will create chalk-dipped stationary for community members to write their love letters on. Saturdays at the Station-goers will have the chance to make multiple pieces of stationary, some to leave and some to keep. Young artists and families are, of course, welcome to write letters to contribute to project as well.
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Write a love letter to your younger self and share it on social media on April 22 starting at 11 am CST, to let survivors everywhere know they aren’t alone. Don’t forget to add #SurvivorLoveLetter.
