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.
Kitteh, apt visual. I approve. 🙂
The only concerts I’ve ever been to have been Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s. Now, they are VERY excellent concerts, you should probably go to at least one within your lifetime, but here’s the thing: They rarely, if ever, actually play their instruments, and it’s pretty obvious. They’re mostly a show-y band. They’ve got one of the best light systems I’ve ever seen, and their music is quite good. There’s no moshing in the audience, since it has pretty much all ages, from children to really old people.
Shiraz – I couldn’t have done it without you! 🙂
Scariest show was definitely Pantera, but it was my own fault for jumping into the pit. Funniest was the Metallica show where some guys picked me up and lifted me overhead for some impromptu crowd surfing. At first I was all HOLYSHITPUTMEDOWN, and then I realized the crowd was friendly and wasn’t going to drop me and I was all “this is actually kind of fun”.
And then on the other extreme we have the Interpol show where both band and audience just stood there like they were in a church, all quiet contemplation. I fell asleep leaning on Mr C’s shoulder for at least 3 songs, it was that boring.
Cassandra — two words: Justin Beiber. Two more: boy bands.
Granted, I don’t actually care other than regretting my taste in music ten-fifteen years ago (yes I’m of the Backstreet Boys generation, and then I went all Goo Goo Dolls and got progressively less shitty from there…and now anyone recognizing what I listen to makes me go YOU TOO?!? YOU ROCK!! [note the difference between this and the gamer thread…])
I never got the jitters at a concert. Though, this one time, at a Ministry concert, I got too close to the mosh pit and some dude accidentally rammed his elbow into my ear. He apologized — profusely. Shit happens.
RE: CassandraSays
Oh man, I could NEVER crowdsurf! So many people… touching me… *shudder*
RE: Kittehs
Woo, Chieftains!
kittehserf – I hope it’s helped. I’ve recently formed this theory that we form habits, even bad ones, because we have an instinctive need for predictability, and if we don’t find it in the outside world, we create it for ourselves. I suggested to my psychiatrist friend that this forms the basis for OCD, but she reacted with skepticism, so I’m probably wrong.
Concerts I’ve been to: Billy Joel (conclusive proof that I’m not a music snob), the Plant / Page one mentioned, Bruce Cockburn (beautiful! At the Orpheum theater in Boston, a place built for acoustics), David Byrne (ten-piece band with horn section in a tiny lecture hall for some reason. Not so good) and also the Chieftains. The audience at Symphony Hall was notably more sedate than the one at the Led Zep concert, despite its being St. Patrick’s Day. Then there was They Might Be Giants in Providence.
Yeah, one time I went to a black metal concert, and since I was not drunk (although I was high as a kite) and since I was away from the crowd, it was pretty nice. Granted, it wasn’t a quiet concert at all,
Also, during that same concert, there was a female black metal vocalist, and she was awesome. Her vocals were excellent as far as black metal is concerned. I felt bad for her, though, because she sounded like she was trying very hard to appeal to the male crowd because she knew she wouldn’t be taken as seriously as a male black metal vocalist by a lot of the guys there.
@me
“Granted, it wasn’t a quiet concert at all, but it was definitely peaceful.”
Fixed the sentence in my previous comment.
@ LBT
My initial panic was partly that we were visiting friends in a town with a naval base, so I got to the show and realized most of the crowd were young navy guys, and I was a 16 year old girl, by myself. So when two random guys picked me up I was really not happy about it. I calmed down once I realized they didn’t mean any harm, but I’ll admit that there was a moment of who the fuck are you and why are you touching me there.
@Ally: Wow, the female vocalist wasn’t taken as seriously? Was her act a part of a festival or were they opening for someone else? You’d think that if the audience paid to see a show, they wouldn’t mind a female vocalist.
Guess I’m just too naive.
@Argenti, if we’re doing musical confessions: My first record album (yes, I am that old) was this.
But honestly, most of the bands I like (symphonic, folk, and power metal), when they play in America, usually just play in a basement with 100-150 people at most there. Meanwhile, in Europe, they play for huge festivals with at least thousands of people. Further confirmation that my musical tastes are in the wrong nation.
@cloudiah: There could be worse. My sister’s first album was a Justin Bieber album. My dad’s first album was from KISS, whom he now hates.
This was mine: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/Strong_Bad_Sings_CD.png
Don’t ask.
She was opening for someone else, actually, but I still had this feeling that she wasn’t taken as seriously as everyone else.
My first three (bought at the same time because tapes were $1 each in Saudi) were Iron Maiden (Number of the Beast), The Police (Synchronicity), and Def Leppard (Pyromania).
Before the mockery for my buying a Def Leppard album commences (yeah, I know) I must point out that I was 9 years old at the time.
RE: CassandraSays
I don’t blame you. I’d be pretty alarmed myself, and I really don’t like people picking me up.
RE: Ally S
Yeah, I just can’t handle the usually requisite loud noise. One of my ears doesn’t function, but it tries anyway, so loud enough sounds, especially in bass, cause my ear to VIBRATE. It’s not painful, but really uncomfortable.
LBT – the Chieftains’ concert was great! They had a couple of dancers from the US, doing Irish-derived dance (can’t recall whereabouts they were from; mountain country, I think, though that’s still a pretty broad area). Anyway the dancers were terrific too.
markb – thank you, yes, it has. Part of what helped me with dealing with anxiety and focussing on triggers (ironically enough for this conversation, music) was learning the simple physical side of it – adrenaline, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous symptoms, and how our brains form patterns seeing something as a threat even when it isn’t. It builds up the sensitivity to the trigger, which was what your comment about focussing on things that annoy you brought to mind. I also saw a mention the other day (didn’t follow the link, unfortunately) about how our brains privilege bad memories over good ones, which probably ties in, too.
First albums?
Crumbs … probably either The Six Wives of Henry VIII (Rick Wakeman) or A New World Record (ELO).
I’m not counting Super Snooper and Blabber Mouse in “Dr Oh No!” ‘cos Mum paid for that.
“I also saw a mention the other day (didn’t follow the link, unfortunately) about how our brains privilege bad memories over good ones, which probably ties in, too.”
I saw an article about that on cracked.com. It did make me feel like less of a freak.
Anything but a freak – I think it’s pretty common.
Before I bought my first album, I used to have sleepovers with my best friend, Darci (with a heart over the “i” naturally), and we’d fall asleep listening to Pieces of Eight by Styx.
These confessions have been good for my soul. 😀