Sheffield medic called two women ‘easy shags’ on group chat of 240 people

The student posted derogatory messages about women to a group chat of trainee doctors

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A Sheffield medical student who posted derogatory messages about two women to a group chat of over 240 trainee doctors is being investigated by the University of Sheffield.

A screenshot of two women, posted on one of their Instagram accounts, was sent to the group with the messages “easy shags” and “use protection”, as has been reported in The Independent.

The images were followed by a voice note in which the student told the group: "Remember to use the old condoms, be a good boy, STIs are not a joke."

The student then wrote "wrong chat lol" and "the message still stands" before posting more voice notes mocking STIs, with no one in the group replying to the messages.

The University of Sheffield has said the trainee doctor is now under investigation so they can assess if the messages breached the General Medical Council rules on the use of social media for doctors.

The student who reported the incident, speaking to The Independent, said: "I find it saddening that such harassment appears to be such commonplace amongst university students.

"The group chat exists for all the medics in that year group to chat and arrange things and I hate to see that coming from a group of students who are meant to represent integrity and professionalism.

"By sending it to a group this big it made us aware that this sort of thing is happening behind closed doors."

The University’s Feminist Society’s President, Emily Doyland, said the university should "take this as an opportunity to reform their sexual consent education – we need signposting of existing services and a genuine political will to deal with lad culture."

The University of Sheffield told The Independent: “As soon as our Medical School was made aware of this issue it followed established investigatory procedures, in line with University disciplinary and Fitness to Practise regulations.

"Fitness to Practise procedures use standards set by national regulatory bodies, including the General Medical Council, to review conduct that could impact a student’s suitability to practise medicine."

The incident comes after 11 Warwick University students were suspended over racist and rape jokes in messages sent to a group chat last year. Following a recent appeal, two students involved had their 10 year exclusion lifted and will be able to return at the end of 2019.

The news was met by the disapproval of hundreds of students, who held a march to oppose the reduced suspension.

Stuart Croft, University of Warwick Vice Chancellor, has come under fire for the decision, saying: "We are deeply sorry and understand the distress this has caused the victims of this abuse and the wider impact which we know has been felt by our students and our staff."

The Sheffield Tab has contacted the University of Sheffield for comment.