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The frosh rape chant that shook a country. By Jennifer Heard.

By on September 18, 2013
frosh

By Jennifer Heard.

 

Most Canadians reacted with shock and outrage when students screamed an offensive rape chant as part of the hijinks of university frosh week on campuses on both coasts of the country. Some of the students, especially men, dismissed the chants as harmless prank.  However, in the minds of some Canadians the reaction of the university administrations was remarkably tepid. Student leaders were given a wrist-slapping and the administration made well-meaning promises to investigate. Was this response appropriate for the severity of the offence? Let’s analyze exactly what was said and done.

On Labour Day, about 80 students at St. Mary’s University in Halifax chanted a rape song glorifying the promotion of non-consensual sex with underage girls before an audience of about 400 frosh students. The song spelled out the word Y-O-U-N-G with the lyrics: “y’ is for your sister, ‘o’ is for oh so tight, ‘u’ is for underage, ‘n’ is for no consent and ‘g’ is for grab that ass.” The song was placed on Instagram by an offended female student and it immediately went viral and made headlines!

A few days later, the same rape chant was sung at the University of British Columbia (UBC) during an orientation event sponsored by the Commerce Undergraduate Society. The commerce students initially downplayed the uproar saying the same chant had been used for more than 20 years (although only in private; never in public – as if that makes it legitimate!)

Two UBC male students involved in promoting the rape chants later resigned from their student body. “The reaction has been unequivocally and broadly one of horror and outrage among staff, faculty and students,” said Professor Stephen Galloway, acting chair of the creative writing department at UBC.

But some question whether the punishment actually fit the “crime.”

If the students were chanting, “Kill those greedy Jews,” or, “Lynch those thieving niggers,” they would be charged with hate crimes right away. A chant that incites men to have non-consensual sex with underage girls is implicitly asking the audience to commit a crime. Thus, many would argue that the culprits who started this offensive rape chant should have been immediately expelled.

These frosh events which glorify sexism and sexual violence against women are not limited to these two universities. At Memorial University in Newfoundland, the engineering faculty sold mugs featuring an image of a scantily dressed woman and the words, “if she’s thirsty give her the “d” in which “d” represents a slang word for penis.

Many question what makes these rape chants acceptable to most students? One of the reasons is that this generation of students has grown up listening to music that it colloquially calls “rape hop.” In this offensive music women are portrayed as sex objects and constantly referred to as “bitches.” Lyrics such as “no means yes” are common and pervasive. This has produced a cultural mindset in which sex is about possession and exploitation rather than love and affection. In other words, women are objectified and violence against women is thus glorified.

“A lot of outrage is not just about the chants happening but that the students seemed indifferent,” said Lucia Lorenz a PhD at UBC, who was herself sexually assaulted on campus.

Universities need to do much more to address sexual assault and the exploitation of women on their campuses because the statistics are frightening: More than 80% of rapes on college campuses are committed by someone the victim knows and many happen in the first eight weeks of classes, according to the Canadian organization, Act to End Violence Against Women. One in five male college students believe that forced sex is acceptable “if he spends money on her,” according to a 1996 survey. Lastly, four out of five female college students are victims of violence in dating relationships, according to a 2006 Statistics Canada report.

Universities can and should do more to reduce these statistics. A lot of students, especially males, arrive at university with little understanding about what true consent and healthy sexuality are all about. Universities should introduce a zero tolerance policy and sensitivity training to prevent dating violence and sexual assault. University is supposed to be a place where students question common attitudes and reflect on the real life impact of what is said and done.

Instead of displaying posters claiming the university to be a “harassment free campus,” why not make it mandatory for all first year students to take a first year course in gender politics? Failing that, universities should follow the example of Yale which banned all frosh activities in 2010 after a similar scandal about an offensive rape chant.

 

22735_693366307409_120807004_43615951_1056736_nJennifer Heard is a 26-year-old from Toronto, Ontario. In 2010 she obtained an honors degree in political science and French and has worked on over a dozen Canadian political campaigns since 2006. Today Jennifer is busy arguing her point of view due to her passion for women’s rights.

 

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