"uni lad" and lad culture

[cinnamonnut]

There was a big furore recently about the "uni lad" magazine advocating rape. They closed their website to "clean up their act" but their facebook page is still so misogynistic :(
This popped up in the activity feed on my facebook the other day. I got involved but ended up having more sexist comments fired at me and in the end deleted my comments to avoid becoming a target.
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=381942055162193&set=a.352663588090040.76923.146505212039213&type=1&theater
Fortunately it never reached 15,000 likes but this type of behaviour is becoming more and more accepted.

This is really sad and disturbing. Mine was one of the last cohorts of students to go to university before the internet/social media really took off (was there late '90s/early'00s) and, while there was some degree of misogynistic behaviour back then, it was mostly confined to drunken banter on 'Sports Night' or specific, niche clubs and societies - sexism was seldom overt, and on the rare occasions it became so it was quickly clamped down on by the SU. Now, though, it seems to have become part of mainstream university culture.

I work as a teacher now, and it has struck me numerous times how much more delineated along gender lines children have become over the past decade or so - the whole overt gender conditioning thing seems to be a fairly recent, but very stark trend. Not sure where it stems from, or why now, but I find it scary that so many parents are merrily playing along with it without analysing the future implications for their children.

Agree that it has little to do with class, though - I was at a Russell Group university that's somewhat infamous for its 'Rah' element, and the students there were as capable of extremes of behaviour as anyone else. In fact, I agree with SardineQueen and others in that ime male students from middle class, privileged, 'establishment' backgrounds are more likely to display sexist attitudes than those who have had a more alternative/less mainstream upbringing and education.

I was a mid to late 90's ex poly university geek type, was still a virgin when i left.
Girl power what went wrong?

Remember the Loaded and Maxim years and these seemed to leay the foundations for the warped 'empowered women' getting their breasts out for male consumption.

Im not suprised by this - www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/29530810 'Sexist' rugby team banned over leaflet 'mocking women' the rugby team at our university seemed full of dicks.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-27292600 - friend on facebook posted something about this as we were all shocked at how high the % were.

About 77% of respondents also said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment with about 46% saying they had experienced "unwelcome pinching, groping or sexual touching".

More of the same - www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-29176844

With the rise of celebrity etc has this rubbed off such that a greater and greater % of the population seek validation of our sexual appeal/attractiveness etc?

Social media feeds this and the Internets greatest strength in sharing information is its greatest weakness in that minority ideas can take form through finding other people to validate it.

aemiller

Goodness how rude...

My understanding of mumsnet is that reviving old threads is bad form, my personal opinion is that it really pisses me off

I think what most people do is link to the old thread when they start a new one

I'm not very good at linking but I'm sure if you ask nicely someone will tell you how to do it

No no, it really is that you posted on a zombie thread. If you weren't so far up your arse, I'm sure you'd be able to see that. I'm sure your deeply researched feminist critique is going to be thrilling and unique, however, it's pretty poor manners to post criticising a thread when there is no one here who posted on it originally. Don't worry, when you post whatever it is you're trying to say, you'll be in illustrious company of men who come and tell us we're wrong.

And did you swear? Such a naughty boy! Was it spelled correctly?

Oh no Buffy! I am wide eyed and simply agog with wonder at whatever Mr thingumy has to say about men who hate women. He seems to have such wide experience of the subject matter. I'm sure we'll learn a huge amount from him.

zombie

You'd like to think so given that it was only four letters long!!

Having said that I might be overestimating both spelling and counting ability

Was this thread even about censorship (in fact is any thread on FWR ever about censorship - they tend to be more about changing attitudes)

But at the fact that women aren't 'vulnerable' and we make up 50% of the population and that's why hate legislation doesn't apply. How much of a percentage of a population a group makes up has f all to do with hate legislation (whatever that may be). There is plenty of legislation that recognises how 'vulnerable' women are (equal pay act anyone). But it's always nice to be told our experiences and how we should feel about them, by a man.

And you don't seem to understand intersectionality. But I'll give you 6/10 for effort.

Scallops, I think he was suggesting that we were trying to censor him, by not immediately agreeing with his manly view. Because we should all have swooned at his amazingly well thought out prose, fluttered that he spared us time out from his terribly busy schedule and positively panted at his expressions of incredulity when he was challenged.

We are bad machines.

I am that bad that I am considering stealing Buffy's badge.

ITs two of the greatest disappointments of mumsnet in my opinion

1. OP posts once or twice, loses their temper and disappears, and I was quite looking forward to seeing them roundly trounced by the women of FWR

2. you have a little look at the different threads, see one that's gone from 0 to 150+ in a matter of hours and think "that must be a good discussion" and it's some plonker reviving an old thread

(Also unhappy with threads that disappear when I'm mid read!!)

Thanks for your thoughtful post, TempsPerdu.

AEM - BOOM!

Sorry Temps, in my zeal to be a good woman and flutter at the manly man, I missed your eloquent post.

It is sad, isn't it?

I really hate men. They are all so crap! I just hate them and how rubbish they all are. Women just amaze me by how strong they are...while men are CRAP!

I know my post is cross to say the least but I am so sick of women being put down and men doing what they want...it SUCKS and I am SICK of it.....!

I think its kinda sad that nothing seems to have changed at universities in the two years since this thread was started.

I think it has Breaking. Not for the better though, sadly.

Why does everyone think facebook is the bee all and end all of the moral high ground: that somehow it's going to censure this, and take it down?

It was started by a disgruntled stalker guy in uni to post shit about his x girlfriend.

Facebook is a natural home for fuckwits posting shit about women.

These sad, emotionally stunted, spoiled young men are rudderless, overpaid, entitled, herd animals.

Economically they are pandered to as everyone wants the 20% extra they are paid (for just having a penis) as its all discretionary.

If women were paid the same as men we'd have equal consumer rights, until then, it's more profitable to market to the male herd, and allow these wankers to do and say whatever keeps the money rolling in.

It's a cynical economic strategy kept in place by the 'boy toy' consumer electronics / car industry who provide the click bait. They have these young men exactly where they want them: herd minded, low impulse control wankers, clicking on tits and ass, with a side dish of a.n.other DJ brand headphones.

Where are the dads? Where are their male role models?

Hi sj2222 you need to start your own thread I think, you'll have a better response.
Tbh hijacking this thread with a survey, (no matter how legit) looks like bad manners at best, a bit spammy at worst.
Good luck with it.

Mraemiller
Amount of people isn't what's makes people an oppressed group. The majority of people in South Africa are black but they are still the oppressed group because the white population hold the wealth and power.
Same with women. Men hold the majority of the power and wealth in society and use it to oppress women.

Lad culture has changed. A big part of that is that it is part of making money now. Club nights are advertised as 'pimps and hoes' fancy dress. I've seen porn used to advertise uni societies. This does change the experience of women at university where there is an expectation to be sexually available to the 'lads'.

Why has lad culture grown so exponentially in the last decade? I can accept that social media and porn has had its part to play, but its origins must have deeper roots within our culture to ensure its popularity.

I can only think that it's men (and some women) who are trying to re-assert a "masculine" element back into a society which is increasingly weakening the traditional male and female roles. Females can easily assert their femininity in this culture and be accepted for doing so (spa day, anyone?)...for men, it is more complex.