Jessica Jin is a University of Texas alumna andmarketing consultant.
Pop quiz: Starting next fall, which won’t you be able to have on college campuses in Texas: a concealed handgun or a visible dildo? Currently, University of Texas policy prohibits “obscene” writings or images, so the school prevents students from bringing a sex toy to class. But starting on Aug. 1, 2016anyone with a concealed handgun license will be able to carry a concealed firearm on any Texas college campus. To protest, I created the “Campus (DILDO) Carry” event for the University of Texas at Austin. If students can carry guns to class, why not dildos?
My call for students to attach sex toys to their backpacks went viral. The demonstration is rooted in satire, but it has drummed up animosity that would shatter even the most optimistic viewing of America as a fearless, liberated country.
In response, people have hurled insults about my race, my gender and my sexuality. They’ve threatened my life and safety. Apparently it’s subversive to have a woman advocate for sexual agency and gun control. I did not expect a harmless sex toy to unearth this much bitterness and hostility.
I have been asked hundreds of times now: Why protest gun laws this way? In short, our language is replete with interchangeable terms and imagery for firearms and sex. The opportunity to mock guns with flagellating rubber dildos was irresistible.
People instinctively felt the connection between the two objects but often told me that they couldn’t quite put their finger on why exactly it made sense to them. Here is the uncomfortable truth that has connected guns and phalluses for centuries: They are frequently used to incite fear and exert power over others.
Guns are used to protect Americans from those who have also armed themselves, and maybe also to shoot the occasional deer or rattlesnake. Guns have been glorified in pop culture as the choice tool for both genius villains and celebrated heroes. Guns have become the poster child of American individualism, the toxic “every man for himself” ideology that has convinced Texas lawmakers that students will not be safe lest they keep a loaded murder weapon between their schoolbooks.
The University of Texas System Chancellor, former U.S. Navy Admiral William McRaven, has said concealed weapons on campus makes campus a less safe environment. McRaven organized and led the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. But since so many seem to think that only we know what’s best for our safety in our limited experience as college students, McRaven who?
To me, the lines of reasoning used to defend gun ownership are also the same reasoning often used to crush sexuality and sexual expression. “You’re going to wish you had a gun when a murderer comes into your home,” is “You’re going to wish you weren’t publicly consuming alcohol in a short skirt when you get date raped,” with just a few words swapped out. These threats will sound familiar to any woman who has ever stepped outside her home. This is why the vitriol directed at our protest has resonated with so many—we’ve heard it all before.
It’s easy to become complacent when something is out of sight, out of mind. I hope that students leave their sex toys on their backpacks for as long as there are other students with guns inside their backpacks. It will serve as a daily visual reminder that people are carrying.
Go Inside the Lives of Families Affected by Gun Violence
Family members gather around Albert Vaughn’s coffin to say goodbye. “Lil Al” was beaten to death with a baseball bat by Nathaniel Tucker. The conflict began when Vaughn, 18, confronted Tucker’s cousin, who had gotten into an argument with Vaughn’s younger brother. Englewood, Chicago, 2008.Carlos Javier OrtizIn Memory of Nugget. Seven years after the death of Siretha White, her family celebrates her birthday. She would have been 18 years old that March. Siretha’s family never got to cut the cake at her 11th birthday party, the day she was killed. Englewood, Chicago, 2013.
Side caption: Siretha White’s cake, on what would have been her 18th birthday.Carlos Javier OrtizThe Bud Billiken parade, the oldest African-American parade in the country, kicks off the new school year and celebrates black life in Chicago. Washington Park, Chicago, 2013.Carlos Javier OrtizAlex Arellano, 15, was shot and burned after being hit with bats and then struck by a car that was chasing him. Gage Park, Chicago, 2009.
Side caption: Burn marks in the gangway where 15-year-old Alex Arellano was murdered.Carlos Javier OrtizGirls in the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side attend a block party to celebrate the lives of Starkeisha Reed, 14, and Siretha White, 10. Starkeisha and Siretha were killed days apart in March 2006. The girls’ mothers were friends, and both grew up on Honore Street, where the celebration took place. Englewood, Chicago, 2008.Carlos Javier OrtizA view of the historic Oak Woods Cemetery on Chicago’s South Side. Oak Woods Cemetery is the final resting place of many of the young people who are victims of violence in Chicago. Joseph Briggs was one of eight people killed in a weekend of shootings that left more than 40 people wounded. Briggs, who turned 16 in April 2012, was shot in the head during a drive-by shooting while he was sitting on his front porch. Greater Grand Crossing, Chicago, 2012.Carlos Javier OrtizThe mother of Fakhur Uddin, a 20-year old college student who was bound with duct tape and shot in the back of the head inside his family’s Philadelphia store, collapses to the ground and weeps as police investigate the scene. Germantown, Philadelphia, 2008.Carlos Javier OrtizAngry community members, business owners and church pastors marched through Chicago’s South Side to protest the overwhelming numbers of murders that took place in October of that year. Greater Grand Crossing, Chicago, 2009.Carlos Javier OrtizRapper Young DBoy Low and his friends shoot a video with the help of Project Spitfire, a nonprofit that uses music to help young people break free of the vicious cycle of gangs, drugs and violence. The group pairs young musicians with professional producers who help them record songs and videos. Bronzeville, Chicago, 2011.
Side caption: Rapper Young DBoy Low shoots a video with Project Spitfire, a non-profit that uses music to help young people break the cycle of violence. Gun imagery permeates the imagination on a video shoot.Carlos Javier OrtizBoys play in an empty lot where homes once stood. Today, all that remains are trees and broken glass surrounded by abandoned homes. Englewood, Chicago, 2007.Carlos Javier OrtizKids jump off a trampoline during a block party. Auburn Gresham, Chicago, 2013.Carlos Javier OrtizArthur Burgess, 19, of the 500 block of East 32nd Street, was shot on a cold winter night and died at the scene. His friend was shot twice but survived. Englewood, Chicago, 2009.Carlos Javier OrtizAlbert Vaughn was the neighborhood guardian, the older teenager who would play ball with the younger kids and try to keep them safe from trouble. About 50 of his friends and family members gathered to remember “Lil Al” on the block where he was killed. Englewood, Chicago, 2008.Carlos Javier OrtizMembers of St. Sabina Church in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood pray to end violence in Chicago. More than 40 young people have been murdered in the neighborhood since 2006. Auburn Gresham, Chicago, 2013.Carlos Javier OrtizChicago’s lakefront is a frequent hang-out for youth during the summer months, but many young people have never been outside of their neighborhoods,
let alone to the beaches along the lake. Near South Side, Chicago, 2006.Carlos Javier OrtizVictims of violence are often memorialized with T-shirts made by their friends and relatives. This is a photograph of a victim for use in his memorial T-shirt. Lawndale, Chicago, 2008.Carlos Javier Ortiz
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