Trending: #CocksNotGlocks

Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 11 into law earlier this year, allowing guns on university campuses. (Photo by John Anderson)

As UT prepares for campus carry, some are getting ready for a different kind of campus carry – dildos.

On August 1, 2016, Senate Bill 11, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, will allow gun owners with concealed carry permits to bring their weapons into most places on campus – although the specifics are still being determined. On the first day of classes, August 24, more than 2,000 people (and counting) have signed up on Facebook to “strap gigantic swinging dildos to our backpacks in protest of campus carry,” thanks to the efforts of 24-year-old and recent UT graduate Jessica Jin.

Jin, who graduated with a violin performance degree, describes herself in a statement to the press as “the typical millennial with too much access to information, too strong of a sense of morality, and too dry of a sense of humor.”

The idea for “Campus (DILDO) Carry,” aka “#CocksNotGlocks” began with Jin sitting in traffic, listening to the news about the multiple recent school shootings, including the shooting on October 9 at Texas Southern University. Hearing people “trying to explain away, or make excuses for this repeated pattern of violence,” Jin thought to herself, “Man, these people are such dildos.”

But why dildos of all things? “Firstly, it is just plain funny. A campus bobbing with dildos is the stuff of every prankster’s dreams.” But it’s also deeper than that; Jin added that the dildo shows the absurdity of “what our society does and does not consider ‘obscene.’” In the Facebook group’s description, Jin writes that dildos are “just about as effective at protecting us from sociopathic shooters, but much safer for recreational play.”

Jin notes, “the state of Texas has decided that it is not at all obnoxious to allow deadly concealed weapons in classrooms, however it DOES have strict rules about free sexual expression, to protect your innocence.” Both UT’s rules, supported by the Texas penal code, prohibit distributing or displaying “on the campus any writing or visual image, or engag[ing] in any public performance, that is obscene,” which is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $500 fine. Noting the potential punishment for the civil disobedience, Jin adds, “Participate at your own risk. But can you imagine the gongshow that would be UTPD/APD trying to chase down thousands of students wielding harmless dildos around campus?”

While the event is already going viral, it’s still a long way off. Jin says that, since she initially made the event in jest, she didn’t think about the timing. But, she adds, it also “buys [her] time to find dildos for everyone.”

Jin says that most people have been “super supportive,” although others have been "angered at the thought of people carrying dildos around with them." She has chosen to leave the negative, sometimes vicious comments that have been posted to the event’s Facebook page undeleted, writing, "For the time being, I am leaving abusive posts up in order for everybody to see them and understand the misogyny, fear, abuse, and hatred that a harmless dildo can incite. It is proof in plain sight that assertions that the general public can remain calm while in possession of firearms in tense situations, when they can't even handle a dildo, might be a bit off."

Jin has also received multiple threats online, which led her to contact the Austin Police Department. She says, “People want me dead for a dildo.” Noting the irony, Jin adds, “It’s the type of reaction that we could only hope to see from them when they hear of a child being gunned down in a classroom.”