Founded in 2013, the “What Were You Wearing?” exhibit had been inspired by Dr. Mary Simmerling’s poem, “What I Was Wearing.” After hearing her piece at a conference in Arkansas, Jen Brockman and Dr. Mary Wyandt-Hiebert created the framework for this installation. Both women work as the Directors of Sexual Assault Centers at their universities, and had been inspired by this poem to extend their work into a form of art. Since then, it has grown as an event, allowing different communities to host their own installations of this project. “I was wearing capris and a tie-dye t-shirt,” one person said. “Two guys in my class sexually assaulted me on a school trip.” Another student stated, “I was probably wearing a t-shirt and jeans...But I’ll never forget what my fourth grade teacher did to me.” Most of the testimonies came from student survivors who recreated their outfits using donated clothing, and shared as much of their stories as possible on the platform. 

Brockman and Wyandt-Heibert’s collection just presents one of many different art pieces that dispel the misconceptions around sexual assault. In 2016, Katherine Cambareri, a senior at Arcadia University, used her senior capstone to create a photo gallery of outfits that sexual assault survivors wore during their tragedies. According to Mutual Art, her study had been based off Jon Krakeur’s book, Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town. The project got featured in the New York Times, Huffington Post, and SELF Magazine. The Kansas National Guard posted a series of videos with a similar theme in 2018, which featured voiceovers of assault victims sharing their stories. However, Jen Brockman states the sad truth of the matter: “If only ending sexual violence was as easy as changing our clothes.”