AIBU to thank that my nephews university womens society were wrong in..

[Immycupoftea]

My nephew is a fresher at a University in Kent. In an introduction speech to a large hall of freshers the Womens Society officer proclaimed that "All men were potential rapists" AIBU in thinking this is not a point of view to express to 18 year olds. I realise we all have to be careful, but....
I must add this was not an employee of the uni, just a society officer.

YANBU, imagine if a man stood up and said "All women are potential prostitutes".

That is just so wrong on so many different levals

Potential

We could all be classed as potential abusers potential murders. I agree it is a little outdated now but the emphasis is on the word potential

It's the same as saying that all people are potential murderers. I suppose you could argue a case for it being true, but I don't believe it. I also think it's a pretty dim view to hold of the world in general, and if someone tried teaching my daughter the same thing, I'd probably tell her it was bullshit.

They were doing that one in 1991, and it was old then. I suppose the point is to start a debate though.

It depends on what the next bit contained.

How we think and act is down to social conditioning, the law against rape in marriage was opposed, for example.

There are some cultures that don't believe in rape, as they see men as having the right to use women how they choose.

What did she go on to say?

tedious and tiresome. Shock tactics for the sake of it.
zzzzzzzzzzzz

Gross. Grim. Totally unsurprising, sadly. Tell your nephew to stay well away from anyone who went to the meeting.

An easier way of explaining what i mean is, that one person's would see an act as a right, another person as abuse.

Which is an on going debate when starting to teach social conditioning and sociology.

It is' zzzz' to older adults but not to teens starting out, all at different levels.

We forget on MN what it was like to be a teen, with fixed ideas and we needed information being given in certain ways to get a whole class's attention and for them to talk about it afterwards.

Lectures should promote debate and this one has, not goin one ear and out the other.

Thank you for your comments.

I'm not sure what she followed it up with- I shall enquire. I just found it insulting to vilify an entire sex. Apparently none of the students uttered a word.

18 year olds at university should be capable of critical, rational thinking and of accepting or rejecting what they are told though. They are not children to be protected from extreme views and they are not intellectually vulnerable.

Presumably the comment was intended to be thought provoking rather than definitive, but even if the student rep who said it believes it to be unequivocal fact university students should be capable of deciding how to deal with the statement rather than be shocked to the core or accept it - otherwise what, to be blunt, are they doing at university?

how bizarre. i suppose its like saying that marriage is the cause of divorce.
perhaps the speaker just has poor social skills.
thinking of how a man would sound saying 'all women are potentially up for it, so watch out, they might take you by force'.
not sure how their being 18 affects anything. except that 'we adults' might see 18 year olds as bigger children, innocent and hopeful as they go off to university, whereas they might see themselves as fully adult, ready to take on the world and all its opportunities.

I just found it insulting to vilify an entire sex.

Unless you know the full lecture, you cannot assume that.

Most Sociology teachers (and others,but my sociology lectures were the worse) start off their lessons with contraversal statements.

i suppose its like saying that marriage is the cause of divorce.

I have heard teachers say that, it starts debate.

It's not true, as not all men have penises - therefore they cannot be rapists.

YANBU

Just as nothing a woman do can cause her to be raped nothing a man who is not a rapist will do will make him rape. It is not men that are the problem it is rapists

Technically we are all potential murderers, child abusers and paedophiles but I'd be very pissed off if anyone called me any one of those

YANBU.

Maybe she was trying to say that you can't tell a potential rapist just by looking at them. But what she said is wrong of course.

And also this wasn't a lecture in sociology or a debate so it seems highly inappropriate

Also I heard that one of the later statements was "As long as men abuse their power....."
It certainly didn't sound like an open debate!

... They should have said that all men and women are potential rapists

It's complete bull anyway. It's a bit like saying that all strangers want to abduct your child

Definitely OTT of them to say this, plus it will put off some young women from joining the society or even thinking they could be involved, which is a shame.
BUT this is university, and all the students should be challenged with a range of opinions. I don't think it matters that he is 18, he is an adult and he will need to learn to engage with and challenge any views he doesn't agree with.

Why are women potential rapists?

You need a dick, at least in British law.

Isn't it kind of the expectation of the Women's Society to be fairy extreme in their views? Are freshers sheep nowadays? It is a big part of being an undergraduate to be exposed to semi shocking "new" (to you not to oldies) ideas, absorb and debate them... Its a sad thing if 18 year old degree students need to be sheltered even from silly opinions these days, they are at uni (party) to use their brains and form opinions of their own...

If nobody said anything hopefully its because they were all too hung over :o