Columbia University, the school that drew national attention when former student Emma Sulkowicz protested the handling of her alleged rape by carrying a mattress to her classes, has come out with a well-intentioned but embarrassing new PSA that says "Consent is BAE." BAE = #Before Anything Else, get it?
It's catchy, but the problem, as many have pointed out, is that it trivializes a serious issue and comes off as clueless and out-of-touch. Bae does not mean yes. Yes means yes. Bae is not consent. Consent is consent.
The slogan goes along with the school's new curriculum and resources around teaching sexual respect and addressing complaints of sexual violence. But as a tipster told Jezebel, the outlet that first reported on the campaign, "In my opinion, and in the opinion of many other student activists I know on campus, this poster both trivializes consent and appropriates African American Vernacular English."
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Prachi Gupta is an award-winning journalist and former senior reporter at Jezebel. She won a Writers Guild Award for her investigative essay “Stories About My Brother.” Her work was featured in The Best American Magazine Writing 2021 and has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post Magazine, Marie Claire, Salon, Elle, and elsewhere. PrachiGupta lives in New York City.
