thedailytimes.com : Your 24/7 news source

This story is part of "The Colors of Abuse," in which Women's Times will feature one shirt from the Clothesline Project weekly through Nov. 15 to increase awareness of the problem of domestic violence in Blount County. The first of the series ran Oct. 11.

A bloody red shirt hanging with the Clothesline Project tells the tale of a little girl who was molested by a nun. Red shirts, along with pink and orange, signify that the contributor was a victim of rape or sexual assault.

The anonymous victim's narrative accompanied her shirt and the statement, "Not all teachers are safe."

In her story, the victim relates how she was molested and sexually abused by a nun who taught at her elementary school. The abuse continued for a year or so until the nun's superior realized something was wrong and dismissed the nun. The victim was accused of being a "bad little girl" and her parents were never told.

"After many years of therapy and the support of my wonderful husband and the other women like myself from the Sexual Assault Crisis Center, I feel more like a survivor now than a victim. The educational classes provided by the Center taught me that no child is ever guilty. It is the perpetrator who owns the blame and the shame," she wrote.