“But you like it rough,” “I should only have to say ‘no’ once” and “Stop looking at me as if I’m food!” were all statements posted in the Marketplace on Thursday to demonstrate the prevalence of sexual objectification and assault.

Students from the women, gender and sexuality studies class “Feminism, Activism and Social Justice” set up the blank canvas to provide Binghamton University students with an outlet to share crude comments that have been directed at them.

According to Deborah Depinto, a senior majoring in sociology, the whole class collaborated on the project as a response to sexual assault on campuses across the nation.

“I think the class as a whole agreed that college campuses, not just Binghamton, have a lot of issues with sexual assault and objectifying women,” Depinto said. “We wanted to put those issues in more of a light on campus. The first step to conquering these complex issues is education.”

Many students stopped to examine the canvas in the marketplace, which was titled “We are not objects.” Audio of students talking about sexual assault on campus played alongside the poster.

“The overall reaction that I got from my recordings was that people said ‘no, it’s not a problem,’” said Colleen Stapleton, a junior double-majoring in art history and English who worked on the project. “Our hope is to have people hear the audio saying it’s not a problem, see the canvas that denotes it is a problem and then have that awareness raised.”

Kalli Grams, a junior majoring in anthropology, wrote about a time when a man slowly followed her in a van while she walked home. She said that the campaign reminded her of the popular YouTube video “10 hours of walking in NYC as a woman,” where the woman walked through New York City and faced street harassment

“People were saying that it was exaggerated and that she was being complimented,” Grams said. “I think that a lot of people were wrong and this [canvas] shows that everyday real women go through these issues. They’re not compliments, it’s not nice.”

Anastasia Sopchak, an undeclared freshman, said that reading the stories from fellow students made her upset with the treatment that her peers were subjected to.

“The fact that there’s so many different people who are writing these experiences shows that it’s not just one or two people making a big deal about it,” Sopchak said. “The people who feel like this isn’t a problem are going to see that this a widespread issue that affects a lot of people.”

The project had two installments: the canvas in the Marketplace and a performance act, which consisted of a parade through Downtown Binghamton Thursday night where students wore lampshades over their heads to symbolize how many women are treated like inanimate objects.

Nearly 20 protestors moved though State Street holding up the canvas and chanting anti-assault slogans.

Emily Coleman, an undeclared sophomore, explained that she and her classmates also demonstrated in the local community to show that assault and harassment happen everywhere.

“We wanted to blur peoples’ divisions between on and off campus,” Coleman said. “Morals don’t change when you go Downtown.”