West Campus bar Cain & Abel’s received backlash Thursday because of a phrase on its outdoor marquee board referencing one of its alcoholic beverages that read “Texas Teas are your wingman.”
People on social media are calling the sign inappropriate, given the amount of sexual assault cases that occur on college campuses.
This is a sign outside of Cain & Abel's, a bar popular with @UTAustin students. This is UNACCEPTABLE. pic.twitter.com/OoqhfDGbtl
— Brittany Shulman (@brittanyshulman) March 3, 2016
Uhg. I see West Campus is still living up to the reputation I remember from my days at @UTAustin. Not funny. https://t.co/n7tSkThh4O
— Joel (@JoelNihlean) March 3, 2016
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college.
Cain & Abel’s manager Alexis D., who declined to use her last name, said that every night around 2 a.m., the door guys try to come up with a phrase that make pop culture references for its sign. Alexis said since the bar has Thursday specials for the Texas Teas and is a night college students go out, they decided on the phrase.
However, this morning when she saw a Facebook post complaining about the Cain & Abel’s sign, Alexis took a screenshot and sent her bartender a text message to remove it.
“We do not support rape culture and knowing that our customers were upset, I made the decision to take it down,” the manager said.
Ashley Laguna, a bartender at Cain & Abel’s, said she did not put up the original sign, but immediately took it down following complaints.
Laguna said the sign was replaced with “Texas Teas…Please.”
Ellen Cocanougher, a UT biology senior and co-founder of Not on My Campus UT, a student organization that provides resources to sexual assault victims, called the sign an example of what normalizes the rape culture.
“We have to point out the rape culture that goes on in campus and off campus,” Cocanougher said. “We don’t know the intention of Cain and Abel’s sign, but the fact that it can be interepeted about taking advantage of someone is not okay.”
Alexis said the bar in the past has protected customers who have asked for help and support the Not on My Campus organization.
“We are a huge supporter of Not on My Campus and we look out for the safety of our customers who are mostly UT students,” Alexis said. “I want to apologize, and as a staff we are truly sorry about this and in no way did we want to promote rape culture. We will continue to ensure the safety of all our customers.”