The University campus woke yesterday morning, as it does most mornings, to a parade of chalking. The majority of these are announcements or advertisements. Occasionally an artist will grace us with a doodle. The messages that appeared yesterday, however, were different. “No means yes, and yes means anal,” read one. The others around it were worse. All were childish, offensive and viciously sexist.

I don’t approve of this. Nobody should.

These chalkings describe women as objects. They suggest that sexual consent is a perk at best and meaningless at worst. They mock real experiences that people on this campus have had. They make many of my friends – and almost certainly some of yours – feel unsafe on a campus that is meant to be their home.

Now, the people who wrote these would claim that they’re “just a joke.” That’s usually the go-to response from people who’ve offended somebody. Not an apology. Certainly not an attempt to understand. “Just a joke” is your get-out-of-jail-free card. If you were smiling, it doesn’t count, right? Stop looking for reasons to be offended, man. Lighten up.

Well, I’m a reasonable person. I’d hate to think I flew off the handle without giving this due consideration. So let’s break this down for a moment, shall we? I’ll leave the discussion of privilege, rape culture and feminism to some of my fellow columnists. They’re more qualified.

We’ll just use plain English here.

Let’s begin by pointing out that if you don’t hold a belief, as a general rule, you don’t feel compelled to write it on sidewalks. I don’t believe that pink elephants are flying above my head. I also don’t believe that all Christians are secretly space lizards. You will note that the sidewalks are adorned with neither pink elephants nor lizard Christians. Most people are too busy to write down things they don’t believe. So let’s go forward under the assumption that the people who wrote these messages, on some level, agree with them.

“No means yes, and yes means anal.” This message states that when a person says no to a sexual activity, they’re really saying yes; their expressed wishes not to have sex don’t, in fact, matter. There’s no other possible way to interpret it.

“No means yes.” There is a word for the act of one person ignoring another’s lack of consent to have sex. That word is rape. It’s a simple word. Very easy to remember. Assuming that the people who chalked these believed in them enough to write them down, what they are really saying is “I think rape is okay.”

Say that to yourself. Roll it around your mouth for a bit. “I think rape is okay.” The people who wrote this think that taking advantage of somebody is okay. They think that inflicting a shattering experience on another person, that treating them like an object to be used and discarded, is okay. They think that when somebody tells you no, what they really mean is yes. By extension, they think that what other people say doesn’t matter. That what they think doesn’t matter. That what they are doesn’t matter. And if you agree with that message, then that is what you think as well.

So, yeah. I’m offended. I’m sickened. I’m disgusted.

What does it say about you if you aren’t?

Asher Elbein is a senior in New College. His column runs biweekly on Thursdays.