Upon presenting the new Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) website to President Doug Bennet and Interim Dean of the College Peter Patton, WSA Vice President Danny Rodriguez ’04 was flabbergasted when a link marked “Voting” sent him to smallanimalfetish.com.
Convinced that he was hallucinating, Rodriguez quickly clicked the “Back” button and tried the link again, only to be redirected to the pornographic site.
“That little naked mole rat kept popping up on screen, and there was nothing I could do,” Rodriguez said.
Student Activities Committee, Dining Committee, Undergraduate Residential Life Committee, and Committee for UnWesleyan Activities Chair Becca Solow ’04 reportedly jumped in front of the screen to block the pornographic material from Bennet’s and Patton’s view. The situation escalated from there, as the furry animal pornography was projected onto her body instead of the screen. A desperate Rodriguez then tried to close the website, only to find the screen frozen on a suggestive picture of a long-tailed weasel.
Despite the anxiety caused by the mishap, Rodriguez, Solow, Bennet and Patton were, according to other WSA members at the meeting, surprisingly calm.
“They didn’t seem to show any emotion one way or another,” said Website Development Committee member Jesse Watson ’06. “They just kind of sat there and didn’t say anything and all – but I was all like, whoa, that’s a weasel on a leash.”
The link was allegedly sabotaged as part of a larger campaign organized by the new group WESKIN (Wesleyan Students for Kreative and Intelligent Nudity). Members of WESKIN said the action critiqued the rampant humano-normativity on campus and brought issues related to animal nudity and sexuality to the forefront of discussion.
Solow said that she was upset by the tactics used by WESKIN, and explained that the WSA had tried to compromise with the group. Such an extreme action, she contended, was unwarranted.
WESKIN group member Una Osato ’04 said that the website trick was the only way to force the administration and the WSA to deal with the issue of sexuality transcending species.
“At Wesleyan we like think we are so open-minded and diverse, but speciesist attitudes still persist, as most administrators and even students think that humans are the only ones that can love. It’s time we did something to promote openness about animal nudity,” she said.
Assuming that the WSA site was intended to be pornographic, United Student Labor Action Coalition (USLAC) members have voiced opposition to the webpage. They contend that animal pornographers and photographers are not typically unionized or paid competitive wages.
“Students might first think, ‘yeah, bestiality,’ but if they understood the effect the site has on unionized pornographers, I think they would think twice,” said USLAC member John Doe ’05.
He said that the WSA’s endorsement of smallfurryanimalfetish.com is yet another addition to a long list of WSA actions insulting unionized labor. Doe said that USLAC has gathered over three thousand signatures for a petition calling for use of unionized pornographers.
The animals featured on the site include small rabbits, naked mole rats, gerbils, and prairie dogs.
Members of the animal rights group Compassionate Living and Animal Awareness at Wesleyan (CLAW) refused to comment about the site until they know whether the pictures were taken with the consent of the animals involved.
Rodriguez said that the WSA website has had more hits this week than any week in its limited history. He promised that the website would be fixed by the end of the week regardless of its recent rise in popularity.
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