An Austin woman has come up with a rather innovative way to protest a new “campus carry” law that will allow Texans to carry concealed weapons on campuses: what if gun control advocates were to show up on the University of Texas at Austin carrying not guns, but … dildos?
Naturally, she’s calling it #CocksNotGlocks.
As Jessica Jin, the woman behind the proposed protest, explained on the Facebook page she set up for the event,
“You’re carrying a gun to class? Yeah well I’m carrying a HUGE DILDO.'”
Just about as effective at protecting us from sociopathic shooters, but much safer for recreational play.
She’s got a point: As the Washington Post has noted, for every “justified homicide” carried out with a gun — that is, for every time someone kills someone with a gun in an act of legitimate self-defense — there are 34 gun homicides, 78 gun suicides, and 2 people killed accidentally with guns.
Predictably, gun enthusiasts have responded to Jin’s protest — which isn’t even scheduled until the law takes effect next August — with the sort of behavior that suggests once again that they are the absolute last people in the world who should ever be entrusted with guns.
And that includes this guy:
The gun enthusiasts have been flooding Jin and her Facebook page with threats, angry rants, and an assortment of obscene pictures. Some of their, er, wisdom:
You can find more along these lines in Raw Storys post on the protest.
This guy, meanwhile, has been posting offensive pic after offensive pic. A few of the more palatable:
The threats have been worrying enough to Jin that she’s contacted the local police.
Just as worryingly, one self-described “Anarchist, Atheist, Asshole” by the name of Christopher Cantwell has decided to doxx her, posting her address and phone number on his blog and informing his readers that “I can confirm the number is working. I called her, and she called me back and left a voicemail with her name.”
Because why not give angry gun owners what amounts to a map to her home?
If Cantwell’s name sounds familiar, that’s because we’ve met him before: I wrote about last year when I discovered him on Twitter telling numerous people to go kill themselves in assorted inventive ways.
Oh, and did I mention he wrote not one, not two, but nine articles for A Voice for Men last year? And that AVFM’s Paul Elam and Dean Esmay responded to my post about his Twitter “activism” … by telling me to kill myself? Ah, memories!
Happily, gun control supporters have rallied around Jin and her protest, posting supportive comments and repurposed gun fetishist propaganda with dildos taking the place of guns.
So far, more than 4000 people on Facebook say they will be attending the protest, and there’s talk about getting a sex toy company to sponsor the event.
H/T — Thanks to Jennifer Graham and Snork Maiden for pointing me to this story.
It’s equally entertaining to watch on that Facebook page MRA type men insult other men as “cucks”, being so completely out of the cultural loop MRAs have no idea NO ONE CARES.
Assuming the guy even knows what a cuck is supposed to be: “Lolwat did you call me?”
The main argument supporting concealed carry on campuses is that a potential mass shooter might be deterred from an attack if he knows other people have guns on campus. That might be true, but it would be more effective if the shooter couldn’t legally buy guns in the first place.
@ tskshak
Actually that’s exactly what an accurate study should do. If we’re going to apply a utilitarian approach to gun control then we need to assess the ‘balance sheet’ as it were.
We also need to consider if all gun deaths are equal. The reality is that we may have to say to a woman who used a gun to prevent being raped that being raped may be a “price worth paying” if the increase in rapes is outweighed by the decrease in deaths.
Now the woman concerned may be more persuaded in that view if the deaths prevented are of other women at the hands of abusers rather than people who wish to attempt suicide or are part of a gang.
“We also need to consider if all gun deaths are equal. The reality is that we may have to say to a woman who used a gun to prevent being raped that being raped may be a “price worth paying” if the increase in rapes is outweighed by the decrease in deaths.”
And with that bit of idiocy, I’m outta this thread.
For the record a gun is not the only way to defend/prevent sexual assault. Reinforcing the idea women being victims of rape is somehow normal and impossible to stop is unforgivably offensive.
Bye.
Honestly, I’d say the “rapes averted at gunpoint” vs “rapes committed at gunpoint” numbers are sufficient to forestall any need to compare averted rapes to enabled murders.
I really, really hope that dildo protest really happens. And nothing goes wrong. Because that’s just beautiful.
Seriously, just dozens of people with dildos, making dick and gun puns. People shouting how they have the right to open carry their penis substitutes.
It would be great, like a carefully and lovingly crafted Onion article.
I want to see this.
(Also, I hope no one gets hurts if this happens, because you know there’s gonna be some white guy gun aficionado who finds the “penis substitute” line hits too close to home and yeah…)
Turning texas colleges into saints row iv? Awesome! Go her!
@ bvh and Orion
Actually I personally agree with you; I’m glad I live in the UK where generally gun violence is rare.
The points I raise are relevant though I think. I do a lot of work with women who have been, or are concerned about being, the victims of violence and sexual violence. This is an issue that crops up a lot.
The gun thing isn’t as big an issue here obviously, although I have been asked on a not insignificant number of occasions how a gun might be obtained. When we work with women from other countries it crops up even more. South African women particularly seem to carry guns. Many received guns as birthday presents.
Applying straight utilitarian principles is of course logical, but when it comes to personal safety then logic and wider considerations isn’t always something individuals consider.
Of course there’s more use of guns to commit rapes than prevent them, but that doesn’t necessarily persuade an individual woman that she should not have the option of carrying a gun. Her not carrying will not reduce the risk of an assailant having a gun.
Like I say, in the UK that’s not an option. Over here ALL weapons are illegal. That includes anything that a person might consider using as a weapon. So a woman who keeps her keys close to hand to use if she’s attacked is also committing an offence.
As a big bloke who knows how to avoid being attacked and is not a likely target anyway it’s easy for me, but I’m not going to condemn women who feel a weapon may be an option.
@Alan
How is keeping your keys “close at hand” a prosecutable offense? Wouldn’t that require a verbal threat or physical attack? I don’t see how carrying a common item that’s not a dangerous weapon is a crime, even if it could theoretically be used as one.
Malice-
I think it goes deeper than that. Making “attention” an evil that gets punished is an accidental honesty. They genuinely believe that women should be expected to know their place and never speak up about injustice. And so any woman who doesn’t know her place must be put back in place, but that sounds bad, so instead, women who speak up are just “seeking attention” and attention is bad and wrong somehow, which justifies trying to punish them into silence.
And it has added benefits of making it easy to shift targets to other women, because anyone who speaks out is now guilty of the same crime and if anyone notices them trying to silence a random woman or their abuse against a random woman then that’s proof of how much “attention” she’s unfairly “stealing”. Plus it justifies the abuse because the more high profile the abuse, the more notice that will likely get and thus the more “attention” they are getting by being a harassment target.
And it’s a handy patina on the reality which is that they really do believe they should be the grand arbiter on who is allowed to speak or be noticed by society.
@ Brooked
Under our legislation “Offensive Weapons” fall into 3 categories:
1. Offensive weapons per se – flicknives, knuckldusters, those martial art stick things (bukotans?) etc.
2. Items adapted as weapons – sharpened combs, baseball bat with nails in it, coins in hankies.
3. Items intended to be used as weapons
So that’s anything that a person does use as a weapon or, the key element, MIGHT use as a weapon. It’s the intention that makes it illegal not the use (although use proves intention)
Obviously intention can be hard to prove unless you’re daft enough to say ‘yes’ if the police ask you whether you would (which is something they used to do a lot to black kids back in the day)
AltoFronto —
“How the fuck can an American carry an assault rifle like that and not be considered a terrorist?”
WWTH covered that one perfectly, but living in a family where I’m the only one who isn’t a lifetime NRA member (yes they have lifetime membership to their little club), can shoot, and is a horrible raging liberal, let me try and answer the rest seriously. As in, from the view of the gun fans.
1. That is not a hunting weapon, that is a mass-murdering weapon.
2. They are in a fucking Chipotle restaurant, not a war-zone.
Doesn’t matter, second amendment says nothing about only hunting weapons, in fact, it flat out says militants need to be armed! Apparently against non-GMO vegetarian friendly food.
3. They are clearly carrying with the intent to be seen to be carrying a weapon.
Yes, that is exactly the point.
4. One does not carry around a cumbersome weapon of death without the intent to use it.
But they’re responsible gun owners! They’ll only use it as a weapon of defense!!11!!! And while those two are clearly showing off, you can insert the argument that they should be able to carry handguns holstered without a jacket over top since it gets so fucking hot in the summer. And we can’t fucking DARE make distinctions between guns, the second amendment doesn’t!!!!
5. This constitutes a threat. “Look, I’m carrying an implement of death, which I wouldn’t need if I wasn’t already thinking of shooting someone.”
It’s not a threat, it’s a promise. /quote
No, really. They see open carry as a promise to would be assailants that they’ll fight back, not as a threat to people who’d like brown rice in their veggie bowl. They’d never shoot someone for wanting mild sauce and corn! Yes, I am describing my chipotle order, I needed something I agreed with in this massive load of shit.
“Seriously, America. This is why I adamantly refuse to visit your country.
My Beloved suggested last week that we take the opportunity of some cheap plane tickets, and I was too shit-scared of having to be on the same continent as raging gun fanatics to want to go.”
Nawh, Canada’s great 🙂
We have a particularly loud, and well armed, bunch of idiots who think they’d be prepared for any threat here though, might want to stick to cities like NYC where it’s nice and liberal. And good luck legally carrying a gun in NYC, most other places you can, but places liberal heavy tend to frown on it.
Basically though, they think that assaults are the kind you see on tv and in stereotypes — you’re not taken by surprise, it’s not someone you know, you keep your wits and don’t fall back into fight or flight (which, contrary their beliefs, doesn’t tend to involve higher level cognition and the ability to draw and fire a weapon, that part of the brain is perfectly able to function when your cognition skills go haywire, that’s it’s job) — or that since the sight of a gun may deter some criminals, it has to be loaded and openly visible. If seeing a gun is all it takes, why load it and risk an accident? That’s a serious question btw.
Ps, please don’t think I’m picking on you or anything, your questions just gave me the perfect setup to rant about how they think since I get an inside view and a massive headache every time this comes up.
Going into practical self defence mode I should probably add that not only is carrying keys for protection a bad idea from a going to prison point of view, it’s also dangerous as it’s easy to lose them or damage them. Then you can’t get into your house/car and, worse, the attacker now can.
Women in England cover your ears but for those of you in other jurisdictions the best improvised discrete weapon is a pen with a strong tip or nib. Hold in a firm grip and aim for the side of the neck below the ear, the throat or the eyes (in that order of preference) or any other target of opportunity.
That went teal deer, sorry.
At the opposite end of the writing-implement pool, whiteboard markers are surprisingly effect mini-baton pseudo-knuckle thingies. Hold the marker in your fist with the end poking out the side, and smash the attacker’s neck or face with the exposed end.
Alan:
Ideally, a “BiC for Her” pen, which is like Kryptonite for dudes.
I carry my keys in my hand when I’m out alone at night. Not as a weapon but to avoid fumbling for them at the door which puts you in a vulnerable position with your back to the street/alley. It’s actually a good habit to get into.
This article features two of my all time heroes, Edith Garrud and W E Fairbairn.
It also covers Fairbairn’s “Hands Off!”. This was a book on send defence for women. It’s famous because it’s just his H2H manual for Commandos but with new pictures.
As relevant today as it was in 1942.
https://badreputation.org.uk/2012/11/09/found-feminism-hands-off-womens-self-defence-1942-style/
@ Moggie
Also those pens make you as smart as a man! 😉 (Seriously, check the advert)
@ WWTH
Yup, it’s also good practice to check around you as you approach your door. Unlocking I’d a particularly vulnerable time and also risks being bundled indoors. Obviously shame women have to consider such things but that’s the world we currently live in.
This is why an armed society is a frigging nightmare.
@AltoFronto
You’re acting like anyone cares that you’re not visiting America. If some gun nuts are keeping you away from the country, then good riddance.
Just read the Mother Jones article and am bubbling with rage at the sheer cowardice and lack of empathy these gun worshippers have. Harassing a survivor in a wheelchair? Threatening mothers who advocate for safety? And the way they reacted to being told that the people they insulted lost their daughter to a shooting? These guys are the fucking WORST!!
Here’s a chart with rates of gun control and gun-related deaths by state. Notice how the states with the tightest control have the smallest number of killings. I’m personally super glad to be in the strictest one, and hear no one complain about not getting to brandish mass murder tools.
@Magic
http://33.media.tumblr.com/20d6371896d4297f77a4c0f3f1b52ac7/tumblr_inline_nmr1dno0PX1t5wl3j_500.gif
Whoa. Why the hostility?
First of all, please use an alternate term to “nuts” while commenting here. Per the comment policy, it’s ableist and not allowed.
Second of all, tourism is actually a huge part of the economy in many areas of country. If enough people decide that they don’t want to come here because there is too much gun crime, it’s a problem.
In other immortal words of The Midnighter :Hit the soft parts with your hand. Hit the hard parts with a tool. Or just hit the soft parts with a tool.