LEOLA, Pennsylvania (AP) – Lifting clothes ropes and long dresses are a common sight on farms outside Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, home to the country’s largest Amish settlement. For many tourists, they are as much an iconic part of the Amish country’s bucolic nature as rural alleys and wooden bridges.
But for two days in late April, a clothesline for various purposes was strung in a small indoor exhibition here. From it hung 13 toilets representing the trauma of sexual violence suffered by members of the Amish, Mennonites and similar groups, reminding them that the modest clothing they require, especially for women and girls, is not protection.
Each garment on display was either the actual one the survivor wore during the attack or a replica assembled by volunteers to match the strict dress codes of the church from the survivors’ childhood.
One was a blue Amish dress with long sleeves periwinkle and a plain collar. The accompanying sign read: “Age of survivors: 4 years”.
Next to him was a heavy coat, hat and a long green dress of a 5-year-old child, exposed over sturdy black shoes. “I was never safe and I was a child. He was an adult, “the survivor said. “No one helped me when I told them he hurt me.
There was also an infant overalls.
“You feel angry when you get a little dress in the mail,” said Ruth Ann Brubaker of Wayne County, Ohio, who helped put together the show. “I did not know I could be so angry. Then you start crying. ”
The clothes on display were various branches of the conservative Anabaptist tradition, which included the Amish, the Mennonites, the Brethren, and charity. Often referred to as ordinary churches, they emphasize separation from basic society, church discipline, forgiveness, and modest clothing, including headgear for women.
It was part of a larger conference on sexual violence awareness in Plain’s churches, held April 29-30 at Mennonite Forest Hills Church in Leola and sponsored by two advocacy organizations: A Better Way, based in Zanesville, Ohio, and Safe Communities, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Hope Ann Duke, CEO of A Better Way and one of the organizers of the exhibition, said many survivors reported being told things like “If you wore your head, then you probably wouldn’t be attacked” or “You couldn’t be dressed.” modest enough. ”
“And as a survivor,” Duek said, “I knew that wasn’t true.
“You can be hurt no matter what you wear,” she said. Those who contributed to the exhibition “wore what the parents and the church prescribed, and wore them properly, and were still attacked.”
The exhibition was based on similar ones that have been organized in university gardens and elsewhere in recent years, called “What Did You Wear?” .
Current and former members of religious communities in plain clothes – not just Anabaptists, but others like Holiness, the offshoot of Methodism with an emphasis on piety – agreed last year that it was time to maintain their own version.
“At the end of the day, it was never about clothes,” said Mary Bayler, a survivor of sexual abuse of children in the Amish communities where she grew up. Bayler, who founded the Colorado-based band The Misfit Amish to bridge the cultural divide between the Amish and the wider community, helped organize the exhibition.
“I hope this helps the survivors understand that they are not alone,” she said.
Survivors were invited to present their outfits or their descriptions. All but one provided children’s clothing, mostly girls and one boy, reflecting their age when they were attacked. The lonely adult clothing belonged to a woman who was raped by her husband shortly after giving birth, Duek said.
The organizers plan to take high-quality photos of the clothes for display online and in future exhibits.
Ordinary church leaders have acknowledged in recent years that sexual violence is a problem in their communities and have held awareness-raising seminars.
But advocates say they need to do more and that some leaders continue to treat abuse as a matter of church discipline rather than a crime to be reported to civilian authorities.
Dozens of offenders from ordinary church relationships have been convicted of sexually abusing children in the past two decades, according to a review of court records in several states. Several church leaders have been convicted of failing to report abuse, including a 2020 Amish bishop in Lancaster County.
Researchers and conference organizers said they were researching current and former members of the Plain community to gather concrete data on what they believe is a widespread problem.
But the display made a powerful statement in itself, said Darlene Shirk, a Mennonite from Lancaster County.
“We’re talking statistics … but when you have something physical here and because the dress is from the Plain community, she shouts, ‘Look, this is happening in our community!'” She said.
Advocates say that in male-run ordinary churches, where forgiveness is taught as a primary virtue, people are often pressured to reconcile with their abusers or the abusers of their children.
Bayler said in the 18 years since she reported her sexual assault to civilian authorities, she had heard more stories of violence in Plain’s churches than she could count. Survivors are often isolated from their communities and face “statements that greatly blame the victims,” she said.
“Sexual abuse of children and sexual assault is something that happens … within communities of every gait and way of life,” Baylor said.
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Religious coverage of the Associated Press is supported by AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content.
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