Justice

Texas Students Are Receiving Death Threats Over Dildo Protest

October 12th 2015

A University of Texas alumna is receiving death threats and outraged responses on social media—all because of dildos. The alumna asked students to carry the sex toys to protest new laws allowing concealed handguns on some college campuses, which are set to roll out next fall. She's calling the movement Cocks not Glocks (#CocksNotGlocks).

The event's organizer, Jessica Jin, told the Houston Chronicle that the Campus (DILLDO) Carry event struck a nerve online. "It has been absolutely fascinating that some folks seemingly feel threatened or angered at the thought of people carrying dildos around with them," Lin said. "They're incredibly offended! So much outrage! They're calling for my head."

"People want me dead for a dildo," she said.

#CocksNotGlocks.

Jin's #CocksNotGlocks Facebook page went viral over the weekend. Over 4,000 guests signed up by Monday morning to strap "gigantic swinging dildos to [their] backpacks in protest of campus carry," on the first day of the Fall 2016 semester.

Shortly before that date, on August 1, 2016, a so-called campus carry law goes into effect in Texas, allowing licensed gun holders to carry concealed handguns on university campuses.

The protest was announced in the aftermath of recent school shootings on campuses across the country, including one at Texas Southern University last week. Jin wrote on the Facebook event page that she wants the spectacle to give people a visual representation of just how effective more guns on campuses would be. "You're carrying a gun to class?" the Facebook page reads. "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 wrote. The page also notes the that Texas law will soon allow concealed weapons to go unpunished on college campuses, while carrying a dildo could land students a citation.

Response from critics.

Beyond sparking anger and earning Jin death threats, critics of the planned protest were quick to point out that in dangerous situations, a fake penis would not act as a safety measure.

"[I]f only students in Roseburg had a dildo," wrote user Teddy Gramz on Facebook.

But Jin told the Chronicle that the protest sought not to arm students with tools of self-defense, but rather to bring attention to the larger issues of gun violence in the U.S.

"I need this proliferation of dildos to offer people a visual representation of what it would be like if we all carried guns," she explained to the Chronicle. "It should look ridiculous to you. That is the point. This is America. If guns and bloodshed don't wake people up, a public celebration of sexuality may just do the trick."

"We're going to need a lot of dildos," she added.

Other protests.

The event was not the only protest sparked by Texas' campus carry law. Faculty, staff, and students spoke out recently at two public forums urging University of Texas president Greg Fenves to limit the new law at the school's Austin branch, and a seasoned economics professor there announced that he would give up his post citing safety concerns over the new rules, the Chronicle reports.

A history professor at UT Austin told the Chronicle that guns would complicate traditional learning environments. "People get very heated," said Joan Nueberger. "If I know there's a possibility that someone has a gun in the classroom...I'm not going to encourage students to speak openly."

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