The Too-Dirty Secrets of KPU Confessions

The group ought to start keeping objectionable posts to themselves

“Send your funny, embarrassing or even darkest confessions and they will be posted anonymously,” promises KPU Confessions, a Facebook group dedicated to creating a safe space for students to speak their minds and spill their beans.

Scroll down the page and you’ll find a handful of funny anecdotes and a smidgen of embarrassing mishaps, but a shocking amount of the content errs on the side of darkness and bigotry. One confessor complains about “99% of canadian born Indians” and a similar one gripes about “all the spoiled, rude, and entitled brown kids” on the KPU campuses. Another calls the people of Fort McMurray “under-skilled and overpaid” before expressing his complete lack of empathy for those harmed by the recent wildfires, and a separate post explains the definition of a feminist as “girls that don’t swallow.”

Still others fetishize and stereotype bisexual women, female doctors, and “female virgins.” Some bash modern feminism and suggest that women “hold the idea of a man as their ideal goal,” and complain about having to “sit next to the fat chick” in classes. There seem to be far too many rude and unsettling sexual posts about women in particular, specifically from the perspective of embarrassingly prideful, self-identified men.

“I use the moodle participants option to stalk all the hot girls on fb. #creepstatus,” writes an actual, real life creep.

“Unfortunate Fact: Approaching Woman as an Average Male is ‘Creepy’ And pretty much looked down upon, and pointless,” sniffs a fully-grown man child.

“Ugly women want a husband apparently. The problem is, [a woman who tried to talk to me] is so ugly that I am resisting to lie to her that I am gay (I am actually not),” types an unidentifiable lout.

On posts like this, there are usually comments offering criticism by more compassionate readers. The people reading these so-called confessions don’t like seeing them either, perhaps because they are are more aggressive rants than anything else.

There is no point to publishing such hateful remarks. Most readers won’t waste their time on them, and those who do will either be offended and potentially scared or given a reason to spread their own personal bigotry. Recall Donald Trump and the mayhem he incites so easily by spewing blind antagonism. That’s possible in every environment, even a local Facebook group, and it’s KPU Confessions’ responsibility to screen out unnecessary and upsetting submissions.

The organizers of KPU Confessions appear to take pride in their policy of anonymity, and that’s fine. But namelessness is meant to keep people safe and comfortable, not to give chauvinistic and discriminatory students a place to hide from the repercussions of their immorality. Refusing to post “confessions” that make toxic allegations about entire groups of people means refusing to give a platform to intolerance and inequity. As a student, I like to think that we stand behind those ideals at KPU.

Unfortunately, KPU Confessions did not respond to multiple interview requests.