I’m a bit late to the party, but I’m appalled at this past issue of SIR Magazine. I understand that student-run organizations on campus feel the need to be “edgy” in their material that they bring forth to campus. But there’s a fine line between “edgy” and “tasteless,” and I believe that line has definitely been grayed over by the writers and editors of SIR Magazine. I’m not writing this to discredit the effort that they put into their work, but the appropriateness of the material is certainly questionable, to put it simply. 

Rape is one of the hottest buttons to push in today’s media. Just ask Rolling Stone or Bill Cosby. The last thing any college campus needs is a media outlet publishing provocative material associated with rape. “Perform Under The Influence: The Legend Of Whiskey Dick”. Pair that title with the cover art of a male literally holding a young woman of stereotypical nature passed out from having too much to drink all while playing beer pong. You get all the wrong ideas from this context. A better part of my classmates and I agree. 

While this material doesn’t directly promote rape culture here on campus, it certainly condones types of delinquent behavior associated with failure to give consent to sexual intercourse that shouldn’t ever be encouraged, independent of each other, in the first place. 

As a college-aged male, it made me uncomfortable seeing this issue on shelves around campus and seeing other males my age reading it. What types of ideas were guys supposed to take away from this journalism? What was SIR’s objective with this content, other than to gain buzz around campus, of course? The answers to those questions are too ambiguous for my tastes.

Before you burn too many calories jumping to any conclusions, I have read the entirety of the article and supported the ending passage that the article had to provide. But the last stanza of the article is far too late to constructively contradict your misguided headline to right the ship, in my opinion. If your ultimate take-home message is “you’re best off trying to woo the ladies while sober, guys” then why title the article “Perform Under The Influence”? It’s completely tasteless, if you ask me. 

I just hope that nobody takes this issue of SIR seriously or literally, and we all get an email notification of campus crime a couple of days later.