We’ve all seen the “”Most Tritons”” campaign. Be it in the form of OceanView Terrace table flyers, newspaper advertisements, chalk-written signs or posters around campus, the Sexual Assault Resource Center really wants you to know that nine out of 10 Tritons probably won’t rape you.
Well, thank God for that.
But what I’m wondering is: What’s this campaign actually getting at, and who is its target audience? Is it trying to warn or reassure? Is it an attempt at peer pressuring that other 10 percent of Tritons, who apparently are totally down to rape someone? The purpose of all these advertisements is nebulous.
The “”Most Tritons”” campaign seems to be based on figures from a UCSD Healthy Relationships report from December 2005, judging from the few flyers that cite the specific survey. From the differences in wording and percentage among the various publicity outlets, it’s safe to assume that this survey had a series of conflicting questions. (While nine out of 10 Tritons stop sexual activity when their date says “”no,”” only 71 percent agree they need their partner’s verbal consent every time they have sex.) Despite this slight variation in wording, these statements are clearly dancing around the subject of rape.
So I’m still curious — what is the point of these ads?
If SARC is looking to warn students that 10 percent of their peers are potential sexual predators, this seems like a pretty strange way of doing it. A more effective route might be: “”Some Tritons: One in 10 Tritons won’t stop when their date says no.”” Or even, “”Watch out, one in 10 might rape you!”” Instead of beating around the bush, why don’t they just come out and tell people that there are predators afoot?
Or worse, if SARC is attempting to reassure students that chances are they won’t get raped, this is certainly not the way to go about it.
Anyone who reads “”nine out of 10″” is going to immediately ask: What about that other one? If anything, this campaign is distinctively eerie in the way it subtly calls attention to the contingent of sexual predators at UCSD. The number of rapes at UCSD is very low, fortunately, so drawing attention to the 10 percent of potential predators is more alarming than it is comforting.
And if the campaign is an attempt at peer pressuring the other 10 percent, it seems ineffective. I mean, aren’t we always taught to be above the influence? And really, is a paper sign going to stop a rapist? It’s like putting a “”Don’t Steal”” sign in a bank. Anyone who is depraved enough to rape someone isn’t about to rethink their behavior based on a flyer.
And if the purpose of the campaign really is to deter predators, couldn’t that be better accomplished through a more specific approach? Like therapy?
So ignore the fact that the campaign fails to warn, reassure or influence anyone, and let’s think about the accuracy of the survey it’s based on. A rapist probably wouldn’t admit to not always stopping sexual activity when their date asks. And with such hilariously loaded questions, consider the probability that 10 percent of Tritons didn’t take the survey very seriously to begin with.
Whether or not these statistics are skewed, I guess I just don’t understand what SARC is getting at. Its Web site seems very education-based, so maybe there is no point to the bizarre “”Most Tritons”” campaign. Maybe SARC just wants to give everyone a heads up: By the way, you might get raped. Probably not. Just maybe.
Clearly a lot of effort and funding has gone into this, yet it’s still unclear what students are supposed to take away from the campaign. How are we supposed to react to the information that 10 percent of our peers might be rapists? The average UCSD student sure can’t figure it out.
If people talk about the campaign at all, it’s only to joke about it. Rape is a serious topic, and I’m pretty sure SARC wants to make people think, not laugh. But the “”Most Tritons”” campaign isn’t encouraging students to do anything but mock its poor advertising strategy.