A dirty shame
If you've looked in a urinal around campus lately, you may have seen a curious screen under that urinal cake.\nLadies, you'll just have to take my word on this one. \nThey are typical urinal screens, but instead of a reminder to flush, they read: "You hold in your hand the power to stop sexual assault."\nIn case that adorable innuendo was unclear, they're talking about your penis, fellas. The extremely serious issue of sexual assault has been relegated to pee-target status. \nThe program was organized by Raising Awareness of Interactions in Sexual Encounters, a group of peer educators for the Office of Women's Affairs, in order to reach the audience of likely potential sex offenders, rather than traditional programs which aim for likely potential victims. Similar programs have been initiated at many other universities over the last five years, and reported sexual assaults have dropped during the last three years, according to the IU Police Department.\nRAISE received a significant mini-grant for the project, while past poster and advertising campaigns failed to get the desired mass response. Hoping to provoke a conversation, they built this project as an attention-grabbing, amusing way to reach the audience of males who are rarely made aware of their role in sexual assault.\nNow, I'd be fine with this if the message didn't imply that my penis was the one doing the thinking. Surely, my brain could make intelligent decisions and opinions about sexual assault. My heart could feel empathy and compassion for fellow human beings and deplore the despicable act of rape. Yet, does the urinal screen reach for the higher levels of thinking? \nNope. I just have to control my schlong to fight sexual assault.\nThis is not to say that the program's mission isn't admirable. In fact, while reported cases of sexual assault have gone down, there are still countless cases of unreported incidents. For too long men have stood on the sidelines of the issue, dodging guilt and making gags, without understanding the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. Regardless, a campaign such as this draws attention away from educating potential sex offenders and toward cheap sexual intimation.\nIt is often quoted, perhaps apocryphally, that men think about sex every 11 seconds. I hardly think we need any help from our peeing receptacle. Also, I'm not wild about the notion of urinating all over an important message. Rather than raising the level of public debate to an honest conversation about sexual assault, the urinal screen campaign lowers itself to a contemptible dirty joke unworthy of Andy Dick. Out of frustration, RAISE has ham-handedly tried to pass off its important message as sloganeering swill.\nDo men need to have a conversation about rape? You're damn right we do. In a modern, ethical society, one act of sexual violence is a stain on all of us. Regardless, there is no reason to stoop to the level of slovenly toilet humor just to start a conversation. Let's think and speak with our heads, and leave our penises out of it.
