So if you live or work in the Provo area you doubtless know about the "serial groper."  He's this guy who's been going around assaulting women on or around campus and he hasn't been nabbed yet.  Now, perverts around here aren't exactly a new thing. It's actually a real problem in this area because people are so trusting and women here are even more afraid of reporting stuff like that than in most places.  It's just that he's gotten really famous because it's the same guy and he keeps doing it and getting away.

So then someone set up a twitter account for him and is making jokes about it.  I believe there are actually two accounts under slightly different names, one as the "serial groper" and one as the "BYU groper."  I'm not going to link them because I don't want to promote them.
Just... no.  I know you might think it's funny, and some of the tweets might be clever, but DO NOT DO THAT.  This is the kind of attitude that perpetuates the damaging culture we have about this sort of thing.  When someone shoots up a school, nobody remembers the names of the victims but EVERYONE knows who the shooter was.  It's a guaranteed way to get famous, and it's even more guaranteed now with the power of social networking.  When we pull stunts like this we send a message that criminal behavior will get you famous.  There are people out there who will think that's worth the risk of prison.
Not to mention it's just another example of our problematic rape culture.  This guy might not be raping women, but he's still sexually assaulting them, and the police are concerned that he might start taking more drastic steps, especially now that he's gotten so much attention and has gotten away with it.  More importantly, the more we trivialize and joke about things like this, the more we send the message that it's okay.  When you make rape jokes around a group of friends or laugh along with someone else's, you're sending the message to anyone who can hear you that sexual assault is something that can be laughed at.  That you accept it.  Here's an excellent study on the very topic.  It literally alters the way people perceive rape and it's terrifying the things they think are okay because of it. In the mind of a rapist, every rape joke they hear is a stamp of approval for their actions.
Not to mention you're making a joke of the experiences of these girls who were attacked.  Imagine that were you, and everyone was joking about it like it was no big deal when it may have been something traumatizing for you, and being too afraid to say anything about it.
Tonight at ward prayer I was talking to this guy, a very nice and good guy, telling him a funny story about how I got harassed at work at the candy counter by a toddler and he said, "Oh, for a second there I thought you were going to say the groper."  I assured him that oh no, it was nothing like that, just a hilarious kid, and then he then went on to say, "Oh yeah, but hey, that would have been cool if it was him, you'd be famous!"

I couldn't believe those words had just left his mouth. I had to give my brain a few seconds to buffer, during which time he sat there smiling like he was waiting for me to laugh.  I then very calmly and clearly told him that it, in fact, would not have been cool at all if I had been attacked by someone trying to touch me without my permission, and that it was super not funny that he thought it would be.  He was a bit taken aback, probably because he's not used to anyone calling him out on sexist nonsense like that, but at least he had the decency to look embarrassed about saying it.
I know the people who made these twitter accounts don't mean any harm, but it's the sort of attitude and culture that people need to be made aware is actually harmful.  Stop and think about what you're doing and the message that you're sending.  Rape is the second most under-reported crime in the United States.  We shame and blame the victims, and make jokes about and glorify the perpetrators in our culture.  This may be a small and seemingly harmless example, but it's part of it and it is not funny.
Sexual assault is not a joke.

[Sorry that's two pretty heavy topic posts right in a row about the same thing- it's just so important to me and it's been coming up so much this past week. I HATE thinking about what it must be like for anyone who's been a victim of sexual assault to see their friends joking about this, afraid to speak out because of the way it will change the way people treat them especially here at BYU... it just makes me sick.]