Lindsey Graham | Opinion Co-Editor

“Download Yik Yak!” they said. “It would be fun!” they said. As soon as I opened this app, I spiraled into an addictive obsession… for the first twenty-four hours. It has an interface similar to Twitter, but here’s the scoop: everyone posts anonymously by location.

Without a name, students here at Buena Vista University have been able to speak their mind and hurt their peers. The majority of the posts have turned sexual, objectifying the females on our campus, even targeting specific individuals.

As most of the typical college posts discussed one-night stands and who was “easy”, others tried to show respect. However, these responses were shot down. Males that posted about wanting a cuddle buddy to watch Netflix with were called “gay”, and girls that asked for a man to take her on a respectful dinner date were referred to most often as “fat” and “ugly”.

For example, take this post that attempted to stand up for girls:

“Lol at the guys who yak about BV girls being ugly. I’m sure you are soooo hot. #YouArentThatGreat #StopBeingADick”

And the comment in response? “She must be ugly”

After reading posts that discussed how guys on campus watch girls eating in the serve, I started to be self conscious when walking down for meals. I felt like I was being judged for wearing yoga pants, or for picking up two slices of pizza instead of only one.

So, with all these degrading comments, my friend and I decided to run a little “experiment” and turn the table on the guys and see how they feel about being objectified. Here was our post:

“Bunch of hot, slippery, wet football players out on the field right now. I can deal.”

Within minutes, we had the first comment: “thirsty”. My friend looked at me and said, “Why is it okay for men to objectify women, but it’s not okay for a woman to objectify a man?”

However, before we were able to craft a reply, somebody took the words out of our mouth:

“Okay that is very hypocritical saying she is thirsty when all of the men on this app are calling out “10” and “4,” but when a girl makes a comment she’s thirsty. Think before ya post.”

The rest of the comments lined up as follows:

“it’s hypocritical when girls complain about guys saying sexual things but when girls do it it’s fine. You think before you post.”

“Not every girl is the same and what girls say isn’t mean or hurtful. There is a huge difference between a compliment and being a total a**hole that has to grade women who walks past. Nice try.”

“^^^STFU you dirty tramp”

That was just one example of comments spiraling into a very offensive post. There were many posts that rated girls, commented on their bodily assets, or pointed out specific names and what acts they wanted to do to them.

I continue to ask myself the simple question, “Why?” We have these amazing technologies at our fingertips and what do we choose to do with it? Bring down our brothers and sisters? As a college campus, we need to respect and take care of each other. Leave our degrading comments to ourselves, and share the posts that will bring us together.

“Seriously guys. F*ck off with the posts bashing people. I thought BV Was better than this..”

Graphic by Krystal Schulte