A clothesline was strung under the branches of two large trees outside the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center Tuesday. Fifty-four T-shirts hung from the line, each personalized by a survivor or the family member of a survivor of domestic violence, dating violence, incest or sexual assault.

Walking on the sidewalk past the display, passers-by turned their heads, their eyes caught by the vivid reds, blues, yellows, purples and greens waving in the breeze.

The shirts also received attention by what was written on them: “I was raped at ISU January 1996 by my best friend,” a red shirt declared.

A white shirt nearby read, “I was 10. He was friends with my dad. He said I shouldn’t have been so pretty. I am not pretty now.”

Some stopped to read the shirts from the sidewalk, while others ventured onto the grass nearer the clothesline. Still others stood only inches away, touching one shirt after another, reading the words and staring at the pictures made by permanent marker or puff paint.

The project grows by about two or three shirts every time it is shown, said Julie Wooden, sexual assault services coordinator for ACCESS Assault Care Center of Boone and Story counties.

“ACCESS served 173 survivors last year — 133 adults and 40 children,” Wooden said.

Wooden and Heather Priess, Story County Sexual Assault Response Team coordinator, sat side by side at a table by the clothesline, offering information and folding blank T-shirts, which are offered at each display and will soon be hanging on the clothesline as well. Shirts and markers are offered each time the display is shown, which gives people a chance to contribute.

The Clothesline Project is in its sixth year in Story County and is part of a national project that began in Cape Cod, Mass., Wooden said.

“It’s a way to air society’s dirty laundry and talk about issues that aren’t talked about on a daily basis,” she said. “It’s a way for survivors to speak out about what has happened to them.”

Cristan Farmer, a sophomore in psychology, sat across from the display watching people’s reactions. The words “incest,” “anger,” “raped” and “sex” jumped out at her from the other side of the sidewalk.

“Doesn’t it just make you want to cry?” she said. “All of those are written by women. A lot of the guys walk past without looking at it, or they walk faster. There’s only been one man who’s stopped. I think people are just kind of ashamed of it in general — it amazes me that people don’t even stop.”

Later, men did stop.

“I started reading them and couldn’t stop. It’s really sad to know what must’ve gone through their minds,” said Shivam Prasad, junior in electrical engineering.

After reading each shirt, one student was ready to make her own addition to the clothesline.

“[I added my shirt] because I am a survivor,” said one woman, who requested her name not be released. “It’s powerful because it’s sad to see how much it happens, but it’s good to know that it didn’t happen just to me.”

Her shirt was added later, when there would be no way for anyone to connect it to her.

Wooden said it is common for survivors of a sex crime to want to remain anonymous.

“I think it’s because it’s a very personal crime,” she said. “The actual place where the crime took place is on someone else’s body — to give details is hard for people to do. A lot of people are ashamed or embarrassed, and ‘victim blaming’ still goes on. We’ve come a long way, but still have a long way to go.”

The shirts are a way for survivors and friends and family of survivors to speak out about what happened to them, Wooden said.

Or as one shirt declared, “I will live in silence no more.”