D.A., Women’s Group Clash Over Ban on Abuse Exhibit

Excluded from an upcoming information fair on victims’ rights, a leading women’s group is accusing Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury of squelching a powerful exhibit aimed at battling domestic violence and other kinds of abuse.

Bradbury said he does not object to the exhibit as a whole but that he believes some language used in the display is offensive and inappropriate for the fair, scheduled for Monday at the Ventura County Government Center.

Nevertheless, members of the Simi-Conejo chapter of the National Organization for Women say they plan to show up to protest the event, which kicks off a series of activities scheduled for Victims’ Rights Week.

At issue is NOW’s Clothesline Project, rows of T-shirts strung up and stamped with graphic stories of sexual and physical abuse suffered by Ventura County women.

“I’m furious,” said project coordinator Cheryl Squiers of Newbury Park. “I feel the work we are doing on the Clothesline Project brings attention to the violence that happens against women. Some people don’t want to face the truth. They don’t want to believe that violence happens to women. They want to keep it behind closed doors.”

But Bradbury said those issues have nothing to do with his decision to keep the project out of the fair.

He said some of the shirts contain profanity that could be offensive to others, and that it would not be right to endorse such a public display of obscenity.

“We just feel that [obscenity] is inappropriate to use for the audience we attract, which includes children and also the victims of rape and sexual assault,” said Bradbury, whose office today will ask the Board of Supervisors to declare April 21-27 Victims’ Rights Week.

“It might be cathartic for some victims . . . but could also be very offensive for others,” Bradbury said. “I would be willing to consider their participation if they could guarantee me that there would be no offensive language used.”

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But Squiers and others say they most likely will not soft-pedal the anti-violence messages, scrawled on about 65 T-shirts and part of a national campaign to draw attention to abuse against women.

“The violence experienced by these women is far more offensive than any language that would be on the shirts,” Squiers said. “I really feel that it’s just another attempt to silence women, and that’s what we’re trying to get away from.”

Sponsored by the Victim Services Division of the district attorney’s office, Victims’ Rights Week is an annual event designed to increase public awareness for victims of crimes.

This year’s theme is “Victims’ Rights: Take a Step to Tip the Scales.”

The information fair is planned for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday at the Government Center’s central plaza.

About a dozen community organizations, involved primarily in providing services to crime victims, are scheduled to attend the annual event. Later in the week, the district attorney’s office will host a walkathon fund-raiser, with all proceeds going to an emergency fund for victims.

The week’s events are part of a long-running Bradbury campaign to lock up sex offenders, spousal abusers and child beaters.

“We have one of the most aggressive programs in the country and we’ve received many awards from victims’ organizations,” Bradbury said.

Officials with the Simi-Conejo chapter of NOW say they also have an aggressive program, one that chronicles the real-life stories of victims of abuse and provides them a forum to release their fear and their anger.

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NOW members said they believe the Clothesline Project is a perfect fit for Bradbury’s campaign to wipe out violence against women.

“They are hard to look at and very disturbing, but that’s the point,” said Patti Hudson, coordinator of the NOW chapter. “Getting beat up is harsh. But there needs to be public awareness so that people know that it’s not OK, that it isn’t acceptable.”