Ohio State student Maria Rimmel and her roommates were shocked to see this sexually explicit sign hung up on the guy’s house next door.
The sign proclaimed, “I want 2 rail my neighbor” with an arrow pointing directly at their home.
Hey @PiKappaAlpha, one of your annex houses at Ohio State is flying this banner. Makes me question your commitment to high moral character. pic.twitter.com/fuDwJVNZHE
— jolene rogan (@katocollier) February 18, 2017
“Previous to this incident, we have had minimal contact with the tenants of the house. Any contact has been pleasant and cordial. This sign came as a huge shock,” Rimmel said.
Rimmel herself was out of town when the sign was hung, but she told us that one of her roommates went over to talk to the boys at the house next door about it.
“My roommate who knows our neighbors more than any of my other roommates went to their house to talk to them. She explained how the sign made us feel very uncomfortable and respectfully asked them to remove the sign. However, they refused and saw no problem with it because it ‘wasn’t about us’.”
https://twitter.com/rimmel_tweets/status/833068469511979008
After guys’ house refused to take down the sign, the girls decided to put up a sign of their own. And it’s pretty much the perfect response:
The rebuttal sign reads “not even in your dreams,” which is a pretty brutally honest response to the sign next door.
Some of the boys’ defenders have come forward to say the guys’ sign is a harmless joke, while the girls’ sign is petty and vindictive. But that narrative doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
https://twitter.com/rimmel_tweets/status/833464665325846528
“Some people responded negatively to our rebuttal saying that it invalidates our anger or that we simply did the same thing our neighbors did so we are no better. But I feel that they made a very public statement that they want to make unwanted sexual advances toward us. Since they were incapable of removing the sign, my roommate felt it was appropriate to make an equally public statement to let our community know that we are in no way consenting to these comments or behaviors.” Rimmel said in defense of the rebuttal sign.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men will be sexually assaulted in college. More than 90% of sexual assault survivors never report the crime, which makes sexual assault one of the most underreported crimes in the United States.
“The sign makes me feel very unsafe,” Rimmel emphasized. “In my opinion, my next door neighbors have made it very clear that they have intentions to have sexual relations with us. I have absolutely no desire to have such a relationship with them.”
https://twitter.com/rimmel_tweets/status/833185224678920192
Outrage over the sign started to build after numerous posts on social media. Over sixty people shared this post by Rimmel’s sister on Facebook:
The bros at the guys’ house are allegedly affiliated with Ohio State’s chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha. The national Pi Kappa Alpha organization is said to be looking into the incident:
This is not in keeping with our values. Looking into this. Thank you for letting us know.
— Pi Kappa Alpha (@PiKappaAlpha) February 20, 2017
The banner was finally removed from the house by the end of the day yesterday.