Being a student at Murray State puts me in a position to be curious about the dark underworld that is “Yik Yak.”
Since its popularity spike at the beginning of the semester, Yik Yak became notorious for being a platform to express violent racism. While the racist posts are disgusting and deserve to be addressed, there is another group on campus that is also targeted frequently.
It seems that women are almost subhuman in the world of Yik Yak. The sexual objectification, derogatory comments and shaming that is posted on the app are conjured in every feminist’s nightmare.
One Yak in particular caught my attention and maintained it: “When you girls go to a dance party and dance with guys because you have a bf you should do us a favor and stay home or go f*** him so somebody is getting a**.”
As much as it made the copy editors cringe, I left the grammatical errors there to prove how asinine the post really was. It’s incredible how a guy dancing with a woman automatically means that he is entitled to sex.
We went to dances in middle school. Not everyone had sex after their awkward slow dance to Usher, I promise. I’m pretty sure that was the age when kissing was considered a taboo.
Apparently, women have no place at these parties, social gatherings or anything else unless they provide sex. If they don’t give it up, they should just stay home. That post wasn’t the only one worth pointing out. Yik Yak is full of men cat-calling, disrespecting and downright degrading women.
And now that Unseen, an anonymous picture posting app, has surfaced at Murray State, the dilemma continues. Men ask women to anonymously post pictures of themselves naked, and a few women are actually crazy enough to do it.
Downloading the app has made me realize that I have probably met, talked to or had class with men who really feel that treating women this way is OK. I am then filled with overwhelming disappointment that these people are pursuing higher education.
Most men here have the respect to treat women like people, with the exception of a few.
It’s when the veil of anonymity protects us that we feel the confidence to say whatever we want.
If a man were face to face with a woman, would he have the audacity to tell her that he won’t get on one knee for her unless she gets on two for him? Most likely not, but someone said it on Yik Yak.
If these users were forced to wear signs that had every Yak they ever posted on them, maybe things would be different. Maybe we would watch our tongues, but that’s just wishful thinking.
What few people on Yik Yak consider funny is considered hurtful, predatory and bigotry by people with morality. Before you post something about some girl being a “whore,” imagine how you would feel to say it while she was facing you. That is the situation you are avoiding, in cowardice, when you post it on Yik Yak.
Column by Carly Besser, Opinion Editor