Chants rang out Friday evening as the seventh annual F--k Rape Culture demonstration made its way through campus and onto Court Street.
About 40 F--k Rape Culture demonstrators marched around campus and to the Soldiers and Sailors monument on College Green to make their demands known by Ohio University.
The demands include implementing harsher punishments for sexual assault perpetrators, being a leader in eliminating rape culture on college campuses, creating a more visible definition of consent by the university and constructing more lights in dimly lit areas as well as more functional blue police lights across campus to ensure the safety of students.
The demonstrators said their goal is to meet with OU President Duane Nellis about these demands.
The route of the march took the demonstrators from the bottom of Jefferson Hill, across to Mill Street, through Court Street and then ended on College Green at the monument.
There were four scheduled speakers and three people from the crowd that spoke at the rally. Survivors shared their own stories of sexual assault and warned that perpetrators are usually acquaintances of the survivor. They also advocated for activism against rape culture.
Claire Seid, OU alum and F--k Rape Culture organizer, said the F--k Rape Culture rally is important to make a change.
“We are engaging in working to change the system and it’s never going to come from the top-down,” Seid said. “It’s never going to come from the Supreme Court unless we agitate and organize.”
Seid also said that while the components of the demonstration stay the same, the feeling is different each year.
“This year it was a little smaller just because last year we didn’t have as many people organizing,” Seid said. “It felt very personal and very special.”
Cassandra Simmons, a senior studying pre-med, said she has been going to the F--k Rape Culture rally since her freshman year.
“I originally got involved when my friend took me to one of the meetings, and it’s a really important message,” Simmons said. “It’s just not heard enough on colleges campuses.”
Emma Little, a freshman studying biology and dance, attended the rally for the first time.
“I saw that it was happening out here, and I thought it would be cool to support,” Little said. “I know there’s a lot going on here and also, politically, that’s frustrating. It’s exciting that there’s activism, and I want to take part in it if I can.”
Ian McKenzie and Abby Miller contributed to this report.
