Cardiff joins forces with other universities to end lad culture

Cardiff, along with eight other universities, is taking part in an NUS campaign to educate university sport teams and societies about lad culture.

The ‘Lad Culture Pilot Scheme’ is a campaign that has been created to tackle the unprecedented surge in sexual harassment and groping’s on campuses across the UK.

The pilot is being run across nine campuses by the NUS after they reported a “startling lack of provision, training and support” for victims of sexual harassment and violence.

The nine student unions taking part in the pilot scheme are Oxford, Kings College London, LSE, Warwick, Cardiff, Leeds, Queen Mary, Sussex and Bradford.

Lad culture is defined as “a term that originates from the media that describes the behaviour of young males in the student lifestyle.” Basically, lad culture describes the glorified conduct of several males at most universities. It is this culture that appears to be the cause for the startling rise in female sexual harassment.

The formulation of the pilot came after recent research by the NUS found that 1 in 7 women have experienced a serious physical or sexual assault during their time as a student and 68% had been victim of one or more kinds of sexual harassment on campus.

Another report showed that 37% of female students have faced unwelcome sexual advances while at university, while more than 60% of students have heard rape jokes on campus.

Susuana Amoah, NUS Women’s Officer, said: “This work will be challenging at times but we believe it is possible to make real educational change.

“NUS will be working closely with students’ unions to identify what their unique issues are and how we can best support their local strategy for tackling lad culture on campus.

“We want to offer support, encouragement and resources to move this work forward on the ground, whilst building our knowledge and understanding of what this issue looks like in different places.”

Cardiff University’s Anti Lad Culture Policy states that “mandate officers will carry out gender equity sessions with sports teams and societies.”

Rachael Melhuish, Women’s Officer at Cardiff’s SU, said: “Universities and unions need to do more to ensure all of their students are living and studying in a safe environment, and take responsibility for when this is not the case.

“I look forward to developing Cardiff’s own lad culture strategy this year.”

Don’t worry lads, this pilot won’t hinder any of the antics that you may get up to on a Wednesday night at YOLO. However, it might teach you some valuable lessons about chivalry and that if a girl is giving you the hand, you should probably take the hint. Maybe this scheme will highlight the outdated misogynistic undercurrent of lad culture, and the dangers of its glorification.