Syracuse University may cease using its “kiss cam” at sporting events after a letter to the editor complained that “it sends the wrong message at a time when colleges are fighting against campus sexual violence.”
Steve Port was tuned in to Syracuse’s football game against Wake Forest on September 12 when the kiss cam showed that a “woman’s head shake was met with ‘no less than six sets of hands from the seats around her shov(ing) her unwilling face into his.'”
“Honestly, I wasn’t out to kill the kiss cam,” Port said. “I was just out to raise an important issue that I saw happening and that’s important to me. I’ve always kind of been a little put off by it anyway, but never witnessed an actual act of – oh, my God, this woman is saying no and it didn’t matter.”
The kiss cam feature was pulled from Saturday’s game against Central Michigan University, Sue Edson, a Syracuse University athletics spokeswoman, said.
“We are taking the time to assess the concerns expressed in the letter to the editor,” she said.
Syracuse University senior Elaina Crockett suggested the university poll students on whether to keep the feature or come up with some kiss cam rules, including moving on quickly if someone obviously doesn’t want to play along.
Crockett, who writes a column about gender and sexuality for The Daily Orange student newspaper, said that otherwise it’s counter to today’s emphasis on affirmative consent that stresses communication and respect for boundaries as a way to reduce campus sexual assaults.
“Just because I’m sitting somewhere doesn’t mean that I’m entitled to kiss this stranger. That’s a horrible assumption that we’ve created,” she said by phone.
The university isn’t the only venue rethinking its kiss cam. The New York Mets last week apologized and said they would stop showing two opposing players inside the heart as a joke after some fans complained it was offensive to gay people.
Perhaps an unwanted kiss on the lips — by either a guy or a girl — isn’t a good idea. How about a quick kiss on the cheek? Is that out of bounds?
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