FroSoCo. MemChu. HooTow. Stanford students have been shortening one word, shortening another, and putting them together for years. The linguistic phenomenon not only epitomizes students’ efficiency (saving them hours of cumulative talking time), it also sounds cool. Sometimes a third part of a word will join and the party gets even crazier. But as jovial as this tradition appears, this naming trend is in jeopardy. Feminine rights activists have joined together in honor of the recent V-Week and declared war on an unexpected injustice, finding Admit Weekend titles “RoHo” and “HoHo” to be extremely offensive and degrading.
“I don’t care how long people have been using these slurs; call me a ‘Ho’ once, shame on me. Call me a ‘Ho’ twice, and that’s objectification,” said V-Week spokeswoman Amanda Campos. Campos also highlights the pencil-thin line between the term “RoHo” and the term “Row Ho.” “We shouldn’t be brainwashing admits into shaming women who live independent lives,” she adds.
Peers have repeatedly attempted to inform Campos and her activist group that both RoHos and HoHos can be male, as well as the fact that the term “ho” in fact stands for “host” instead of “whore.” However, this has only intensified their campaign. Members of the group have decided that protesting Admit Weekend slurs is no where near enough. After Admit Weekend has subsided, the group aims to turn its attention to the Horticulture division of Stanford Buildings & Grounds.
