Photo Illustration by Michael Norris Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall will participate in The Clothesline Project, a visual display that bears witness to violence against women, during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Victim and victim advocates from within JBM-HH decorated the above t-shirts which will be strung up at various locations around post.

A 5-kilometer SAAM walk and run will be held April 30, beginning at 6:30 a.m. outside the Fort Myer Fitness Center. Awards will be distributed at approximately 7:35 a.m. (or when contestants finish) to the largest unit represented, as well as the best runners in the age groups 39 and younger, 40 to 54 and those 55 and older.

At Henderson Hall’s Smith Gym, a free set of rape aggression defense classes will be offered April 19 and 21 and April 26 and 28 from 6 to 9 p.m. Participants need to register by April 9 to reserve space. Call (703) 693-0086 for more information.

In addition, T-shirts decorated by victims of sexual assault will begin appearing on clotheslines at various locations throughout JBM-HH April 12-15, at locations still to be determined. Twenty victim and victim advocates from the installation gathered in the community center March 15 to hand-paint shirts, dabbing out slogans such as ‘‘No means no” and depicting artwork that shows the consequences of sexual assault — prison bars.

‘‘I thought it was a good session,” said Lisa Thomas, the sexual assault response coordinator for Headquarters Marine Corps, Henderson Hall, who attended the session. ‘‘Everyone pretty much brainstormed and came up with their own ideas.”

April 21 is designated Denim Day during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The day grows out of a 1998 Italian Supreme Court decision that overturned a rape conviction because the victim wore jeans, which the court viewed as a provocation. Since the decision, people around the globe have worn jeans annually on a designated day as a symbol of protest against misinformed attitudes about sexual assault. In observance, Soldiers but not Marines working in JBM-HH will be permitted to wear jeans that day.

Andrea Verdino, the Army Community Service victim advocacy program manager for JBM-HH, said 3,230 sexual assaults were reported in 2009 involving military personnel as either victim or perpetrator. She said 162 balloons will be released April 12, with each balloon representing 20 people in the military affected by sexual assault last year.

According to Thomas, an uptick in the number of sexual assault reported in the military community is due to the introduction of restricted reporting procedures. She said victims can notify authorities of an assault through either unrestricted or restricted reporting. Unrestricted reporting notifies the military police of an incident and gives the victim access to assistance programs, while restricted reporting does not require the involvement of MPs.

For more information on SAAM, contact the Victim Advocacy Program at (703) 696-6611.