"Voices From the Line"

This essay by Laura Julier talks about the Clothesline Project, which allows women to talk about their trauma by creating a shirt and hanging it on a clothes line. She includes many shirts to illustrate that these women use the experience to confront many different aspects of their lives as well as their trauma. Many women address their attackers, themselves, and their sisters in order to take back their lives and heal in some way.

I think this was an extremely important essay to read, especially right now when Planned Parenthood and women's health care being such an issue. At one point Julier says "The autonomy in making her shirt gives each woman space to wrestle with naming her experience and finding language for it in her own voice and in her own way" (365). This is an issue women struggle with under many circumstances, whether that is not being in control of choosing what to do with her own body or not being able to express herself in a way that can help her heal. I think Julier was able to capture the power of the Clothesline Project while at the same time arguing that the power of the project comes from the connection and strength these women show by telling their stories.

And again, these experiences are accepted through writing and allow each woman to take back her life, because she is in a community that acknowledges her struggle and trauma. And while one woman points out that many might not see a point "because there are still war and AIDs and violence against women," it still serves as an outlet for struggling women.