That’s what she said

Has the rise of laddish banter made our generation accept everyday sexism? The NUS certainly thinks so.

Last week, the NUS released a report titled, That’s What She Said. It explains that “lad culture is suddenly everywhere in higher education,” suggesting that Students’ Unions need to start addressing the issue of sexism properly.

The fact that this report emerged as recently as a week ago highlights a serious problem with the culture of sexist “banter”. Indeed, the idea that masculinity is somehow projected by lad culture suggests that universities are still very much of a patriarchal nature.

Last week saw the University of Leicester get address issues related to feminism by hosting International Women’s Day activities. From hosting film screenings to organising open mic nights, the UoL tackled the concept of lad culture and asked important questions about how to deal with it.

Czechy performs at the ‘Are We Equals?’ open mic night

The event got me thinking: do we need a Women’s Officer within our SABB team to tackle this issue? DMU has one, but we don’t. I asked a few students what they thought. Unsurprisingly perhaps, the contentious issue saw students fall strongly on either side of the debate.

Amy, from the Amnesty and Feminists society, told The Tab that Leicester should have a women’s officer, due to the lad culture that the SU still engenders.

On the other side, rugby player Alex admitted to not being aware of the problems women face within university life, but agreed that if there were a popular demand for a Women’s Officer, then we should employ one.

I don’t want to assume that DMU has more of a LAD culture than we do in Leicester. In the last week, the UoL has seen a guy get banned for inappropriate behaviour towards women in the O2 Arena and another guy on a rugby social was chucked out for harassment.

Clearly we’re seeing the effects of lad culture on our very doorstep.

What do you think? How should be tacking the issues that the NUS report found? Should Leicester uni create a Women’s Officer position? Let us know your thoughts on the comments board below.