UC banner contributes to rape culture, misogyny

By the editorial board

It doesn’t take a gag reflex to want to hurl after reading the misogynistic banner hung up at a house near the University of Cincinnati campus recently.

The “tasteless” banner, as the university dubbed it, was offensive to women and all those who respect them as equal human beings.

It follows suit with a long line of banners donned by houses of disrespect and simple-mindedness, which see the beginning of each school year as a chance to depreciate the self-esteem of thousands of young freshmen girls.

These banners stand for so much more than a handful of ignorant men. They are a symbol of a broader ignorance that has propagated rape culture on college campuses, and left victims of sexual assault and harassment at the wayside.

When a sign is displayed near a college campus it is considered a proud message to the public.

It’s hard to imagine what kind of upbringing breeds someone who is proud to proclaim that womankind can be reduced to the simple, humiliating function of performing a brutalized version of oral sex after seeing a sign upon move in.

It’s even harder to imagine the pain and shame parents, who are the addressed recipients of the message, must feel knowing that their daughter will be subjected to these types for her college career.

And it doesn’t end there. Misogyny is as common in the American workplace as cheap office coffee and human resource meetings.

From “man-splaining” over a female co-worker to downplaying inappropriate jokes to ignoring the serious pay-gap separating the sexes, men are pushing against equal opportunity and respect.

By calling a deprecating sign a joke and harmless behavior typical of boys, misogynists spread victim-shaming and harmful stereotypes that have gotten similar men with no respect for a woman’s value out of jail sentences.

California judge Aaron Persky thought six months of jail time and three years of probation was adequate punishment for Stanford rapist Brock Turner.

No doubt the plea of Turner’s father that more than a decade of prison time was “a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action” appealed to the judge’s sexist sensitivity to the miserable plights of privileged, rich, white men.

Spare us your disrespectful and simple-minded wit. 

Grow your own gag reflex and approach the world with your message when you’ve learned to get sick at the sight of misogyny too.

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