SMU boys like their girls YOUNG? wow...

“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.”


Well, it's day two of the media coverage surrounding SMU's absolutely degrading chant that went viral yesterday, and it's only just begun.  I can't even begin to explain how I feel, because it's just to unbelievable.

For starters, before the comedian show last night, our SA President, Jared Perry gave a less-than-apologetic speech basically saying "Sorry if we offended you, ENJOY THE SHOW".  Don't quote me, because I know that's not exactly what he said, but if he was trying to be sincere, it definitely wasn't conveyed through this very short, sweet and less than sympathetic apology.

Then today, I find this video, which actually sickens me.  I honestly see ZERO emotion in this guy's face when he should be mortified that he played a role in such a sexist, disgusting chant.  The whole thing was so rehearsed and forced. I felt nothing but frustration while listening to him pretending he gave a crap about what happened.  He not only admits to knowing it's been going on and taking part in it, but says he was unaware of the message it portrayed at it's severity.  He says it's been going on for years but will stop today.  How as the SMSA President, do you not see anything wrong with a chant that is not only sexually demeaning, but actually promotes rape? I mean, how do you sit back and go "yeaah, this is cool!".  I agree that when you're caught up in the moment, the meaning may slip by you, but after years of hearing it, doesn't the message start to become a little more clear?  He kept avoiding question, saying that we were moving forward, and trying not to contradict himself, which he seemed to do time after time. The thing is, you can't move forward until you move through what happened.  This whole water under the bridge, let's forget about it, move on thing, it just doesn't work.  If you can't take complete ownership of what you've done wrong, or see the bigger problem, which isn't the chant, but the fact that not ONE of these leaders seen a problem with it, then we are never going to actually get passed the problem.

http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/video

I think the saddest part is that many of the freshmen and other students who this came up in conversation with have actually rolled their eyes, and said it wasn't a big deal.  They said that this is what the university has to tailor their frosh week to because this is how to get down onto our level, by being sexual.  Well, let me tell you, this is definitely not my level.  One girl I spoke to even laughed it off, saying she had been sexually assaulted in the past and still sang it because it was just a chant and it was funny.  What sickens me the most, is that somehow, she's okay with this. By saying these lyrics, she just told the assaulter who assaulted her, that it was okay.

I'm just so disgusted that as a society, we see nothing wrong with this behaviour.  We sit around and LET men demoralize us, we LET our peers demoralize us, and stupidly enough, we do it to ourselves. This whole entire culture has changed so much over the years, sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. We are in the year 2013 and most people can't even tell you what is considered rape and sexual assault.  It's all so blurry and complicated.  This just proves it right there.  I don't believe for a second that even a quarter of these men that screamed this chant are capable or sexual assault, but you know what?  They didn't see anything wrong with the chant.

Honestly, as a woman, I don't find it empowering to be half naked, to sleep around, or to run around chanting about my sex life. There's nothing empowering about that.  I don't feel like a REAL woman by being a SEXUAL woman. In fact, I don't want anyone to know about my personal life.  That's mine. Not yours.

In general, this whole week has been about sex starting with the chants.

There were two chants that took place, both very sexual, then an explicit hypnotist show, then dirty bingo where you play bingo to win condoms, and so on.  Other than turn burn (some of the activities were okay, others were sexual based and that's where the chanting took place), the comedian who was kinda average and boring, and the concert tonight, everything else was very sexual with no alternatives. Even for students who wouldn't have wanted to take place in these things, there weren't other activities offered.  I'm not saying that frosh week should be filled with fuzzy unicorns and telling knock-knock jokes, I just feel like, at some point, what was once sexual and funny, becomes way overboard and kind of degrading and sexually objectifying.  When do we draw the line between funny and disgusting?

Being a part of the Antigonish Women's Resource Centre project, "The Resisting Violence Project" Rural Youth Take Action, was such an amazing opportunity and really opened my eyes to the views of our culture and it's just so  sad.  I had the chance to make and attend presentations, and so much more.  Now, I am a board member of the SMU Women's Centre, and clearly I couldn't have joined at a better time.  We really need to take a stand against this awful behaviour and shed some light in an issue that just doesn't seem to be getting any better.

We all have a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend or someone who has been or knows someone who has been affected by sexual assault and rape.  Are we really going to sit back and let rape be glorified through frosh week chants, and then mocked by students who think it's just a big joke?

Self Respect people. Self Respect.