You might not think that student orientation events would be an appropriate venue for chants celebrating the rape of underage girls. But such chants have apparently been something of a tradition at not one but two Canadian schools — and possibly more? Last week, a scandal erupted at the University of British Columbia after word got out that an orientation event at its Saunder School of Business had included a chant on this particular theme, led by orientation leaders from the Commerce Undergraduate Society.
According to one woman who disgustedly live-tweeted the event, it went something like this:
Y-O-U-N-G at UBC, we like ’em young, Y is for your sister, O is for oh so tight, U is for underage, N is for no consent, G is for go to jail.
Meanwhile, in Halifax, someone made a video — and posted it to YouTube — of student orientation leaders at Saint Mary’s University chanting a nearly identical chant.
Naturally, noted, er, human rights activist Paul Elam of A Voice for Men felt compelled to weigh in on the issue. He started off by expressing his deep disgust … with having to hear anything about the issue at all:
I swear if I read one more outraged “report” — aka feverish, paranoid rant — that twists something stupid into “evidence” of a “rape culture,” I am going to just lose it.
Yes, how outrageous that a chant joking about raping underage girls at an official school orientation event could possibly be construed as contributing in any way to rape culture! So sorry that your delicate sensitivities were offended, Paul.
After some more predictable histrionics on this “hyper-hipster-hysteria” from Mr. Elam, he got to his main point: blaming feminists for the rape chants.
No, really.
I am an older guy. I find it interesting, given that I came from a more “patriarchal” generation, that something like this when I was 18 would have been unthinkable. Why? Because other men, especially older ones, would have pulled those young people aside and said, “Hey, we don’t do that around here.” That would have been that, as they say, if it had even happened in the first place.
We can thank feminists for this. Through policy and governance they have eroded positive male role models, and male authority, right out of the culture. After feminist undermining of the family, removing fathers from the lives of children and demonizing male heroes, we have a population of young people, especially young men, growing more socially feral with each new generation.
And now what do we see? Feminists running around everywhere telling men they need to tell each other, “Don’t rape. Don’t abuse women. Don’t this. Don’t that.” …
You can’t assault the identity of half the human race, marginalize and disempower them, which is exactly what feminism has done, and expect anything in return but what you are getting.
In other words: You gals asked for it.
Paul Elam, you are rape culture.
::sharing Maybelle love with lowquacks::
I do indeed smell the distinctive odor of the pretentious music snob, and frankly I deal with enough people like that through work, I’m not thrilled to encounter the same shit during my leisure time.
Random female guitarist who even the sexist assholes seem to be willing to admit she’s good.
Good autoharpist, too, though she’s rather less visible as an autoharp influence because next to nobody plays autoharp anymore.
Joe Satriani! That guy wins the award as the single most unpleasant professional musician I’ve ever encountered.
I can do a musical snob thing right now: m’lord found there’s a concert on over There tomorrow night, and we’re rounding up the family to go to it.
It’s new music by Vivaldi, and he’ll be conducting.
Venice, here we come!
It is certainly true that feminism is the reason there were so many girls and women there to hear them.
It is also true that men used to make these same sorts of misogynist chants back in the day. No older guy ever took them aside and said we don’t do that here. The older guys were the ones who taught them the school rape chants.
Example here for those interested:
The Carter Family recorded that tune a few times, but the Bristol Sessions version is incredibly chill-inducing. Two people singing old-time harmonies a little off-tune, one strummed autoharp, one microphone, two takes, and it still sounds amazing nearly a century later.
@CassandraSays
Can you say any more? I just assumed somebody who made such technically proficient yet incredibly boring music would be equally pleasant yet boring in person. Guess I might have also assumed that because dude (IIRC) taught Kirk Hammett and Steve Vai, and while I don’t care much for the playing of either (though I find Kirk far more bearable when he turns the wah pedal off and Vai far more entertaining when he turns it on) they’ve always seemed very pleasant people from what I’ve seen.
@kittehserf
To be fair about Springsteen, there’s a sort of meme/received wisdom/whatever that even if you don’t like Springsteen’s music, you’ll enjoy a concert by him.
He was just really rude and arrogant, which was hilarious given that it was at a signing in a tiny little record store where maybe 20 people tops showed up, media included. He was particularly condescending to the women/girls.
Another excellent woman guitarist: Carol Kaye, probably more known for being one of the most prolific and influential bass players of the ’60s, also played a fair amount of session guitar on songs you’ve almost certainly heard, including one of the first examples of playing guitar through a rotating speaker on Jewel Akin’s “The Birds and the Bees”.
Also this leads us into a related conversation, which is that someone can be incredibly gifted and proficient on a technical level and still make really boring music. Some guitar snobs would say that people should love Satriani’s albums and buy lots of them, but my perspective would be that technically skilled doesn’t always equal great music. Some people are just OK in terms of technique but fantastic songwriters, for example.
lowquacks – given the huge entertainment package he puts together, I’m not surprised! That said, I don’t think I would enjoy his concerts, even though I really like a lot of his music; but that’s about noise levels and preferring original recordings to live versions of them anyway, not about him specifically.
Congrats Cloudiah. You have once again proved that you are incapable of reading. It would be remarkable if it wasn’t so common amongst your kind. It seems to be a symptom of the disease known as feminism.
“Couldn’t possibly be that all the people at that Led Zeppelin concert were there because they’d been attracted to the music in the first place, could it?”
My point was, they couldn’t hear the music because they were applauding over it. But yes, I’m sure they enjoyed the music when they first heard it and they went to the concert more so that they could say they’d heard Page and Plant play live. I was annoyed because I had come there to hear the band, not the audience.
Well that’s what happens with rock concerts, people are excited and noisy.
… Classic FM is currently playing the theme music from Star Wars. O_o
I can understand getting annoyed when people scream over something quiet like an acapella or an acoustic guitar solo, but to get pissy with people being noisy at a hard rock show? Eh, just stay home and listen to the music in an environment you can control.
Yeah, it’s not only the music, it’s fans seeing the musicians. I mean, duh.
Mr C gets pissy when a band’s live show doesn’t sound EXACTLY like the recorded version. This is why I don’t take him to many shows – his grouching about it ruins everyone else’s good time.
Yes, I tend to stay home in general. And I’m more of a snob in general, not music-specific. Parents are Russian classical musicians, I absorbed the attitude but not the ear for music.
Interesting thing about the Page / Plant show; at one point they brought out an Egyptian hurdy-gurdy player and the crowd loved it, purely for the musical experience. That was the one point where it felt like they were enjoying the concert and discovering something new, not just loving the idea of being part of rock history.
Are you trying to win today’s prize for best projection or something?
It pisses me off how some people romanticize the past as some golden era. Elam longs for the good ol’ days days when “rape chants” never existed. Um…no. Rape chants and rape still happened. He just longs for the days when women (and men) didn’t complain about it because it was not considered a “polite” topic for discussion. Just like the myriad of other social ills that apparently manifested out of the thin air within the past few decades.
@CassandraSays
I’m EXACTLY the same way. I thought I was the only one.
@ Alice
You mean like Mr C?
The autoharp is an underappreciated instrument. Maybe I will learn it, and become the next autoharp wizard. I’ve been casting about for a new hobby…