The Anonymous Elephant in the Room

Anonymous confession pages are commonplace for colleges everywhere. Southern Adventist University has one, Walla Walla University has one, and the University of Notre Dame has one too. While these kinds of Instagram accounts may appear benign in their commonality and frequency (Andrews University, after all, has had several) they represent a far worse trend than just the opportunity to share secrets with the rest of the student body. These accounts are frequently breeding grounds for sexist, homophobic, and generally cruel statements, along with serious misinformation. Often played off as comedy, when paired with the platform of anonymity, a new and increasingly unpleasant environment is created for the student body here where peers act as a surveillance system for one another to punish behavior deemed abnormal. While this is the same method of shame and control that creates the social contract that we follow, rarely do these confessional accounts follow a set of fair morals. Instead, the ideologies with which the creators and users of these spaces work are ones that embrace sexist and hateful thought.

On April 6, the now-removed confession account “auutrash,” uploaded an intimate photo of a girl along with a slide stating, “Supposedly this picture that’s been going around is someone from Andrews… does anyone know who it is 👀” and a link to the mentioned image. This was only another moment which only contributed to the trend of these AU-associated confession accounts, like the now defunct “au.hub,” of soliciting for, sharing and promoting of personal photos of the female students on campus. This was not only an act of targeted harassment but could even act as an infringement of Michigan state law under code 750.145e, section 1(c and d)—“The person obtains the sexually explicit visual material of the other person under circumstances in which a reasonable person would know or understand that the sexually explicit visual material was to remain private…The person knows or reasonably should know that the other person did not consent to the dissemination of the sexually explicit visual material.”

From the individual who ran the confession account to the user who submitted the image for upload, this act is unacceptable and marks a concerning acceleration of intensity in the acts of sexism which have been occuring. The layer of anonymity that these accounts grant to users enables some of the worst behavior towards women on campus. If there has been some difficulty in understanding why this is bad, the principle of even wanting a hidden identity to be cruel should be enough: if you’re so afraid to have something attached to your name, then maybe it’s not something that is worth sharing.

If we want anonymous confessions, take some of these. Over the last week I’ve collected quotes from students across campus documenting their reactions to not only the most recent occurence, but these confession accounts as a whole: 

1. “To be honest, I really don't want to describe the image here because idk I think it's a bit insensitive of the individual who was the subject of the image to describe it in detail. I will say however that when I first became aware of the picture that was posted on auutrash, I wanted to throw up. I was and am angry, I was frustrated, and felt an overwhelming sense of sadness. I think this reaction was based on the fact that I can't imagine how or why a person would share such an image of a woman with malice and the intention to deeply hurt and humiliate them. What's really concerning about the whole thing is it doesn't seem like people understand that this is the type of thing that pushes people over the edge. Whoever took the picture, sent it in, and ran ‘auutrash’- what do you gain by violating another human being? It honestly also was demonstrative of how inescapable and insidious misogyny and gender-based violence is. Being on an Adventist campus doesn't mean that there is any guarantee of being treated with respect and dignity. I think the most heartbreaking thing about this is that there seems to be no real recourse. Whoever runs the account and sent the picture wasn't publicly shamed/humiliated. It's not a trauma that will impact their psyche; it won't impact how they relate with others or the world in the future–they get to live their lives like nothing happened. Where's the justice in that? Idk it's just so frustrating to know whether or not you "act" properly or not as a woman, you'll be reduced to an object. An object that people feel entitled to with little regard. Idk its mentally and emotionally exhausting.``
2. “The whole thing is despicable. It’s scary because you can see a progression of this kind of behavior. First it started with sexual comments about women’s bodies but then they soon became derogatory. Eventually the account was posting photos that were taken off of women’s instagrams to ridicule them. It’s no surprise that the misogynistic attacks escalated until inappropriate photos taken without the subject’s consent were shared to publicly humiliate her. My worry is that if this behavior goes unchecked, then it’ll escalate to even further abuse.”
3. “It’s so upsetting that this content was what Andrews University looked to for entertainment. I know that Adventists are still human, and we’re no better than anyone else, but I wonder if we’re just supposed to know better as human beings? To not violate someone’s privacy? To not laugh and make a joke out of it? And people defend this account saying they just post what’s submitted. However, that does not mean they’re devoid of responsibility. It does not mean they suddenly don’t know what is right and wrong. That they didn’t know that this would affect a person negatively. The person who made this account is as much in the wrong as the person who shared the picture.”
4. “These kind of accounts are fundamentally just sources for anonymous cyberbullying and I wish that there weren’t so many of them.”
5. “I think the anonymity that social media enables us can be a really detrimental thing. It allows people to say and do really disgusting things without repercussion, and that is so harmful. When an anonymous account says that it will ‘post anything,’ the individuals behind these accounts often end up perpetuating hate and bullying. It’s been really sickening to witness this, and it’s disappointing that people still have this mindset that it’s okay to engage in these actions as long as nobody finds them out.”
6. “Anonymous confession pages have incredible potential to be places of independent discussion of problems and potential solutions at a university, platforms people can use to call out situations that they feel they couldn’t get enough attention for on their own, or even just pages to just have some lighthearted fun with commentary on daily university life. However, as we have continually seen at Andrews over the past few years, these pages can quickly turn from sources of funny observations and campus inside jokes to horrid instances of harassment and bullying. The cowardice and brazen unkindness of those who will hide behind their screen names or continually defend their actions with ‘I just posted it, I didn’t say it,’ is easy to condemn. However, as members of the Andrews community, we all have a responsibility. Your follows, likes, and comments mean something - without them, these pages wouldn’t be a big deal. We all need to investigate our social media habits, and I strongly urge us all to take a stand and start making some changes. Consider unfollowing every “Andrews” account that spews negativity–I promise, you can live without piping hot tea. If you still want to follow, consider reporting posts that are clearly not appropriate, or even DMing the admins to try to get them to hold themselves accountable for their actions. Hey, we also could take a cue from economics, and all start several of our own Andrews accounts and flood the market until we’re all so sick of these accounts we all unfollow. Or, we could start sending in so many nonsense submissions to these accounts that they genuinely won’t be able to sort through it all to find negativity to post. And hey, if you are an admin of one of those pages reading this right now, listen: you messed up, but you can start over. Do better. There are so many ways we can fight against these sources of negativity and win. We all make up the Andrews community, we can all do something about this.”