Recently, a sorority’s recruitment video came under fire for being “worse for women than Donald Trump.”
In my opinion, the video — which harmlessly featured sorority members joking around as pop music played in the background — is nothing to get heated over.
If you read my article about the whole fiasco, you know I don’t think the lack of substance in the video is a big deal.
However, I do think there’s a form of media out there that’s worse for women than Donald Trump, and it’s been flying under the radar for far too long. Let me introduce you to a Twitter account called Old Row.
According to the account’s bio, Old Row is “jokes, hot takes, photos and videos from a campus near you.” While that sounds harmless enough, the actual tweets Old Row posts are a little less subtle than you might expect.
Images of college parties, conservative political agenda and sports clips are frequently posted. The account also links to a site where hats, shirts and other apparel with innuendo graphics can be bought. Honestly, I don’t take issue with any of that.
I mean, lines of cocaine across a table with your university’s mascot on it might not be the smartest idea, but even that doesn't really concern me. And if you’re a college student looking to sell your risqué t-shirt designs to your peers online, go right ahead.
However, what I do have a problem with is how the account disrespects and dehumanizes women.
In addition to the party culture that Old Row promotes, images of half-naked women with hashtags like #ShackerSunday and #ThongThursday are blasted to the account’s 100,000-plus followers.
Based on the sneaky angles most of these pictures are taken from, one can assume these women don’t know they’re being snapped.
Not only do these college girls not know their pictures are being taken, but they certainly don’t know they’re being publicly posted for all to see. That’s definitely not okay in my book.
Perhaps, even more problematic are the captions that accompany these images. “Git girl git,” “You can leave now” and “When they overstay their welcome,” are all recent phrases found on the Twitter page.
Seemingly, the more disrespectful the captions are, the more laughs and agreeable comments the pictures receive.
Now, I’m not morally opposed to hook-up culture by any stretch of the imagination. I understand one-night stands happen all the time in college, but that doesn’t mean using women for sex should be condoned or even praised on Twitter.
Apparently, the people at Old Row don’t realize you can sleep with someone one time, and still be respectful toward him or her the following morning.
The unflattering way in which the account exploits women sets a horrible example for men who are just starting out at college.
They’re being taught that the sh*ttier you treat a girl after a hookup, the more retweets and attention you’ll get online.
Old Row will praise you for your assh*le behavior, and you’ll be a Twitter legend.
This is so not cool, Old Row.
It’s clear we need to stop turning a blind eye to these disrespectful tweets. Accounts like Old Row are perpetuating negative stereotypes about college students, and it’s decidedly not a good look.
As someone who attended a large university in “Dixie”— which the account claims as its location— I can promise you we’re not all like the people featured on Old Row.
The account gives college men -- especially Southern college men -- a bad name they don’t deserve.
It also gives naïve college freshmen misogynistic ideas about what kind of pictures they need to post in order to become popular.
The chauvinistic nature of the page isn’t the norm in college, so let’s stop promoting it to be.
