“SMU BOYS WE LIKE THEM YOUNG, Y IS FOR YOUR SISTER, O IS FOR OH SO TIGHT, U IS FOR UNDERAGE, N IS FOR NO CONSENT, G IS FOR GRAB THAT ASS.”
Those are actual words from a Frosh Week chant recorded on video at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. A similar chant was reported at the University of British Columbia.
This story has been covered by many news outlets in the past week, in varying degrees of underwhelming outrage. Personally, I’ve been disgusted by how the media’s covered it, and I’ll tell you why.
First of all, let’s call it what it is. We need to stop using words like “non-consensual sex with underage girls,” as Jane Taber does in The Globe and Mail, to soften the blow when describing the chants, which promote violence and rape. These chants aren’t “inappropriate” — they are downright hateful and derogatory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMY9Tqxz-Ec
The story seems to be focused on the disillusioned student leaders and the flustered university administration and how they are coping. What no one seems to be talking about is the already prevalent culture of sexual assault on campuses. Nova Scotia happens to have the highest rate of sexual assault in the Maritimes.
On September 8 on CBC, a panel joined host Wendy Mesley to discuss the chant and frosh culture in general. All three of the panel members were middle-aged men, and I was thoroughly confused. How are there no female experts on how terrifying a bunch of students chanting about raping young girls is? How are middle-aged men the people who best understand? Each of them, as expected, danced around the word “rape” in their description of the chant.
They’re just kids, right? They don’t know what they’re saying, they’re just conforming to fit in. The inability of the media to see the bigger picture of what this represents is disturbing. The fact that this is coming from young students should alarm us most of all.
“They’re just kids, right?”
University is supposed to be where you learn to absorb what is around you, but also criticize it and question it relentlessly. What’s the point if, during their first week on campus, students succumb to this zombie mob mentality and scream out words that clearly promote violent and misogynistic values without a second thought?
The only reason why people are apologizing is that they got caught. If no one had leaked that video, I am sure the chant would continue to be a part of the SMU frosh week for years to come. One only needs to look at a recent study on date rape cited on the York website, which says 60 per cent of Canadian university-aged men would commit a sexual assault if they didn’t get caught, to see this is true.
These individuals need to be held accountable for their actions and to understand these chants are more than “not cool.” They perpetuate rape culture, which unfortunately, university campuses are already too familiar with. These events show us just how prevalent this rape culture is and how very, very far we have to go.
Marileina Pearson
Photo Editor
