One out of every five adults has been sexually assaulted. This is just one of the statistics visitors faced while walking through the interactive Breaking Silence Exhibit in the EMU, a series of curtained off spaces that each represent different scenarios of sexual or domestic violence.
One of many statistics on display in the rooms. (Max Thornberry)
University of Oregon’s PanHellenic Council, a group of collective sororities, helped host the free exhibit for the past three days, which mixes audio and tactile imagery to tell stories of sexual abuse and healing.
Founder of the exhibit, Allison Watt, said the exhibit had a great reception. She’s displayed it at colleges all around Colorado, where Breaking the Silence is based. UO is the first school outside of Colorado that she’s brought it to.
Two members of the PHC community, Rachael Wallace and Nicole Leisy, walked through the exhibit together linking arms.
They said they did this to be empathetic to each other, noting that even if someone didn’t experience the display’s topic, learning about others’ experiences could still be saddening and scary.
Upon entering the exhibit, visitors put on headphones with recordings of two sexual assault survivors and one perpetrator. The stories matched each room that represented three scenarios of sexual abuse.
The first few rooms represented the living space of a middle-aged woman whose partner would threaten to torture her. The audio accompanied visitors walking by a couch beside kids toys scattered on the floor and a dining room table with a knife laying on the corner. The woman explained how she and her children finally got away from him as she regained control of her life.
The next room hosted a bed covered in a child’s bedspread. A man explained how his mother forced sexual relations with him as a child. The room beside it holds another dining room table, this time with a suitcase next to it, representing the man moving out of his mother’s home as a young adult.
The next rooms showed the back of a truck covered in clothes and beer cans. A man explained how he sexually assaulted a woman while she was sleeping, and is now facing the legal and emotional consequences of his actions.
Wallace and Leisy thought it was valuable to hear the stories of both survivors and perpetrators as well as the experiences of people in different types of abusive situations.
Participants were presented with three stories. Two of survivors, one of an assaulter. (Max Thornberry)
“Sexual assaults aren’t all the same,” Leisy said. “When you’re in college, you think of someone drinking too much and being taken advantage of.”
She said that she knows these instances are prevalent on college campuses, but she’s glad the exhibit spread awareness that abusive relationships can happen to anyone.
Watt, the founder of the exhibit, emphasized that while the exhibit sheds light on negative experiences, it’s also about empowerment, hope and change.
At the end of the exhibit, visitors are asked to reflect on their experience and “break the silence” surrounding abusive relationships.
“We just hope people will start the conversation,” Watt said. “[That] after you leave the exhibit, you go forward and you talk to somebody about it and just figure out how do we change our current culture and really prevent this from being so prevalent.”
Breaking Silence is one of several programs put on at the University of Oregon during the month of April, or Sexual Assault Awareness Month. A list of the remaining events can be found at http://dos.uoregon.edu/svpe/saam.
