Campus preachers are telling girls they deserve to be raped
‘Sorority girls are whores’ reads one of their signs
“You deserve rape.”
That is, if you walk up to one of the not so popular campus preachers that visit the University of Arizona. They tend spend their day condemning passing students on their way to class, and they are at it again for the Spring. Most noticeably, the infamous Brother Dean Saxton is back this semester to make sure you don’t end up in hell.
A crowd gathers in response to abrasive proclamations
A typical public sermon with Brother Dean informs students that girls on campus deserve rape because they are “asking for it” with their clothing choices. He tells students they will go go to hell for “being a hoe”, because they are wearing tank tops, yoga pants, shorts, or even v-neck shirts (to name a few), and says the female students should not be allowed to vote, or attend school, and that they should submit to men.
Whether his targets are victims of sexual assault or not, Brother Dean says they deserve to be raped. Sororities, Muslim, non-Christian, female, and LGBT students are just some of the groups that have been subjected to his public attacks.
He has received verbal and physical threats from freshman to senior students alike.
He can usually be seen on the University mall area, or on the “the hill”, where he is commonly found pointing fingers at other everyday students.
Julia, a 20-year-old student in the Deaf Studies major at the University of Arizona, has been on the receiving end of his attacks.
Deaf Studies major Julia, with a friend at a Wildcats game
Julia told me: “I’ve never been singled out but my freshman year he did use a golf cart to follow the Slut Walk event, a rape culture protest event. I saw it from my dorm room, as the march made its way across the road. He called out ‘You deserve rape!’ through a megaphone several times.
“If I ever got a chance to speak to him I would tell him his perspective on God is skewed”.
Nicole, a 22-year-old senior in the Psychology and FSHD majors, also has strong objections to Brother Dean’s behavior on campus.
Nicole, a Psych/FSHD major
Nicole said: “I do have a few friends that were pointed out. He mentioned something about ‘deserving rape’ and ‘going to hell’.
“What really caught my attention is that he calls himself Christian and with being Catholic, I feel insulted because that’s not what the religion is about. I honestly believe he is a hypocrite who shouts nothing but disgusting blasphemy.
“He needs to shut the fuck or I’ll shove a stick up his ass”.
She isn’t alone. A 21-year-old Public Health major expressed her concerns when she was singled out on her way to class: “I consider myself a feminist and a humanitarian on some levels, so hearing what he says really fuels my fire. But what fuels his fire is the attention. Naturally I want to call him out in person and in social media, but I put it aside, because it is the attention he wants.”
Because he is protected under First Amendment rights, the authorities haven’t removed him or prevented him from returning semester after semester. He cannot be thrown out or legally sanctioned for expressing his religious beliefs, no matter how aggravating or offensive he may be. But protected or not, the message is clear: the students we spoke to do not want Brother Dean’s abrasive messages distracting them from their day to day activities.