Female sports teams should have good lass workshops – they’re just as bad

This year, all male sports teams at Brookes have had to undergo ‘good lad’ workshops in JHB. These are classes over an hour long, taught by a random lecturer. During which time, guys are educated in what it takes to be a good lad. This includes thinking about how others feel when forced to drink, or when surrounded by a large and threatening group. In many ways, these classes are great. They teach sports teams to pipe the fuck down, because let’s be honest- we’d all feel a bit threatened if 10 rugby players were screaming ‘eat it fresher’ in our faces.

However, the thing about these ‘workshops’ is that they’re exclusively for male sports teams. In a world where we want men and women to be equal, we’re still putting guys down for their ‘lad culture’ and ignoring the fact that girls get pretty rowdy on nights out too. We’re ignoring the fact that girls drink, pull boys and get in the occasional fight too.

What makes American Football any different from Netball? Why should American Football be spoken to about their behaviour on a standard night out at Fishies, when it could just as easily be an all girl sport that’s acting inappropriately?

In the workshop, guys were given scenarios in which they had to shut their eyes and step forward if that action was positive or negative. Example: ‘you’re in a nightclub and you’re chatting to a girl. You offer to buy her a drink. Do you see this behaviour as a good or a bad thing?’

I’m pretty sure we’ve all been in a situation where we’ve been near the fuzz bar, and a boy has offered to buy us some kind of alcoholic beverage. Yes, this generally means they want to chat you up, or give you a cheeky kiss- and maybe this is an invitation for something more. But why is this situation any different than a girl doing the same thing to a boy? This isn’t the 1960’s and girls don’t hang around waiting for boys to chat them up. Girls can get a guy a drink that they fancy just the same.

All girls teams going on their annual mad piss up (tour, if you like to make it sound like an international tournament) to Salou probably involves just as much shagging on hotel balconies and drinking jagerbombs for breakfast as it does for the lads on exactly the same holiday. Why do we continue to stereotype boys sports teams for their behaviour, when its likely that the girls are probably just as wild as the boys?

If it was found out that Brookes were only giving consent classes to males, the feminist society would be in absolute uproar. There would be battles going on about sexism left right and centre. But nobody has batted an eyelid about the fact that guys are being victimised simply for being in a male sports team.

A Brookes third year who was made to attend one of these ‘good lad’ workshops said: “It was eye opening, and it makes you appreciate how peer pressure can feel on the other side. But this doesn’t just apply to guys. Girls can act and feel in just the same way.”

Sure, some of the male sports teams at Brookes have come under fire for inappropriate behaviour, but what are the chances that girls have behaved in similar ways and haven’t been caught out on it at all?