What Were You Wearing? Exhibition

Regeena Lewis will be displaying an art installation that seeks to dispel the myth that a person was sexually assaulted because of the clothes they were wearing in the upcoming art exhibition, “What Were You Wearing?” in the University Union’s Gallery.

According to the artist’s statement, this exhibit is meant to combat the iconic question in rape culture — “What were you wearing?” The artist states that “to ask this question implies that the survivor could have prevented their own sexual assault if they had just worn something that was less revealing or sexy. It lays the blame on the victim instead of where it rightfully belongs: on the perpetrator.”

Rape culture is a very serious issue throughout the world, and the Sac State campus community aims to make their environment as safe of a place to be as possible. This Gallery exhibit will be displayed, in part, with the hope to bring awareness to this issue. According to Regeena Lewis: “This installation challenges participants to engage with the universal connection we have with clothing and reflect on what gives this specific rape culture myth so much power.”

She leaves her viewers with the sentiment, “If only ending sexual violence was as easy as changing our clothes.” Instead it requires all of us to evaluate what enabled us as individuals and as a society to ask, ‘What were you wearing?’ in the first place.”