Althouse: "Then, male university students were divided into camps. Among them, crudely put, there were sensitive, arty types..."

October 11, 2014

"Then, male university students were divided into camps. Among them, crudely put, there were sensitive, arty types..."

"... who liked indie music and baggy cardigans, and 'rugger buggers,' who were loud, aggressively masculine and devoted to sport. Now, though, we have a new type: 'the Lad,' who is hyper-macho and makes jokes about rape. He is, according to journalist Clive Martin... 'the anti-scholar, the beer-swilling, banter-puking cuckoo in the scholarly nest… The Lad is far less cuddly than his predecessor. He’s not selling a bit of hash on the side to finance the buying of yet more Che Guevara and Pulp Fiction posters. The modern male yooni-going dunderhead buys his drugs and his degree online, so most of his free time is spent charging drunkenly around whatever provincial British city he’s been assigned to, as if it were his own personal adventure playground.'"

From a Guardian article titled: "Campus nightmare: female students on the rise of sexual harassment/Photographed in their beds, shamed on social media – and, for some female students, that’s just the beginning. So what are British universities doing about sexual harassment and assaults?"

31 comments:

PB said...: an anecdote-filled, free of useful data article. The only stat was that 85% of rapes go unreported. You'd think they'd include the number of rapes that ARE reported so we can see if this is a real problem. Likely this was not helpful to their cause. At least they didn't repeat the 20% canard.; 10/11/14, 10:27 AM
Anonymous said...: The Guardian much prefers 'the ideologue' I'm guessing.

A pliable weenie or driven do-gooder, doing their good.; 10/11/14, 10:28 AM
Ann Althouse said...: There's a lot of stereotyping going on.

Stereotyping… and drinking…

And photography….; 10/11/14, 10:32 AM
Anonymous said...: "There's a lot of stereotyping going on."

If it weren't for stereotyping how else can we make a quick decision?; 10/11/14, 10:35 AM
William said...: I believe it's a problem. I also believe that the Guardian would never devote the same amount of space and research into the plight of the Rotherham children.; 10/11/14, 10:37 AM
campy said...: "The only stat was that 85% of rapes go unreported."

Thanks for letting me know I can safely ignore this obviously agenda-driven pile of tripe.; 10/11/14, 10:38 AM
Fernandinande said...: She didn’t lock her door because she was afraid of sleeping through a fire alarm.

A locked door would interfere with her rape fantasies coming true.; 10/11/14, 10:47 AM
buwaya said...: University lads being lads is not new. Its so ancient it must be biological.
The new bit is girls of the same social classes making themselves so vulnerable to the lads antics.
In the old days there were harlots and servant girls.; 10/11/14, 11:43 AM
ELC said...: In primitive, old-fashioned, less-enlightened times, I believe, it was widely thought to be a good idea to educate the sexes separately. Why, O why, in the world would they have thought that?; 10/11/14, 12:12 PM
Wince said...: As William alluded, the Guardian reminds me of the guy in the dorm whose stereo is blasting at volume "11", except here it's British self-loathing turned-up so loud you can't hear the cries of Rotherham.; 10/11/14, 12:36 PM
Mary Beth said...: It seems like what people really are having a problem with is that photos and accounts of things they've done are getting posted to the internet.

It's like we're all back living in small towns where everyone knows what everyone else is doing.; 10/11/14, 12:37 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Historical Christian morality emphasized the development of a conscience from infancy ("God sees what you do in private, you little perv, and you're going to burn in Hell for it!"). Somehow, in spite of the fact that modern European society has no replacement for such development of conscience, they thought they could kick Christianity to the curb, and yet somehow atavistic needs like sex would stay decently within bounds. I mean, "bounded" by what exactly.

Forget for a moment the Bible & the Gospels & the catechism & Sister Mary Elephant periodically smacking you around every time you needed it. Did anyone pay any attention to Freud or any other developmental psychologist of note? No repression = no civilization. It takes a might, mighty barrier to hold back an Id when it's at high tide.; 10/11/14, 1:22 PM
chickelit said...: Well, there are lads and there are ladies. According to the linkable OED of Etymology, the former are servile while the latter word derives from those who need bread. link

Related?; 10/11/14, 1:27 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: campy,

"The only stat was that 85% of rapes go unreported."

Thanks for letting me know I can safely ignore this obviously agenda-driven pile of tripe.

Enh. The "stat" was supplied by a "lad" to other "lads" via newsletter. I don't believe it, but it's a piece of propaganda, not the product of the writer.; 10/11/14, 2:40 PM
cubanbob said...: The photo of the guy with a tattoo of his face on his ass, unless it's free that genius is wasting his money on a university education.; 10/11/14, 3:03 PM
Ann G said...: Never let the facts get in the way of a good theory. The Guardian reported extensively on Rotherham, including publishing the entire judicial report

Here's one from the 6th October

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/06/sexual-abuse-rotherham-abusers-victims

Here's the reaction of Keir Stamner, the ex director of the DPP, from August

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/28/how-can-we-prevent-another-rotherham

Here's the link to the complete report,

http://www.theguardian.com/society/interactive/2014/aug/26/rotherham-children-sexually-abused-full-report

There are countless other articles and comment pieces on the Guardian website, for those who care to look.; 10/11/14, 3:55 PM
Nicholas said...: Being British, I can confirm that there is a lot of classic Guardian twaddle in here, especially the ritual blaming of "privatisation", which is laughable. It was not "privatisation" that drove the Universities to overfill themselves with dunces unsuited to intellectual pursuits, but the last Labour Government.

Equally risible is the claim that this is the result of students being more in competiiton with each other in a difficult graduate job market; if this were true, they would be pursuing academic one upmanship, not passing three years in an alcoholic haze. The villains of the piece here have not given a thought to life post-University, but this is the result of the over expansion of higher education. As a grumpy reactionary remarked when University expansion started in the 1960s (in a very small way) "More means worse".

On the other hand, some of the stories are horrific. Cut degree courses to two years and leave less time for these excesses.; 10/11/14, 3:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Oh, there's some stereotyping going on all right.; 10/11/14, 4:00 PM
Anonymous said...: I suppose this is an effective means of communication.

Thanks to you both for how hard you've worked over the years, and for creating and maintaining this place. It's special to a lot of people, and it's clearly special to me. I suspect I've probably taken more than I've given over the years, but you both have my gratitude. I regret not using your portal more often, but I have an ongoing obligation elsewhere, so, I hope you understand.

On a possible matter at hand: I don't know what kind of bond you've got with Crack, but while the sentiments expressed are common in my experience amongst black folks, the mental instability and clear imbalance of the guy aren't.

In fact, not much at all. In the long run, I think this hurts the dignity of those who've done better, ignored more racism, overcome longer odds with more of their minds and spirits intact.

The fact that this is overlooked, and how it hurts black folks in the long run, Crack himself, and white folks too, suggest to me it may be time to rethink what may have become too sentimental a connection with just one man, a place to rest and learn for a bit, but not to stay, wallow and sit.

So with that, I shall try and hold myself to the same standard.

Thanks again to you both, and for this place. Best wishes to you and your families, all health and happiness...and...I hope to see you out there.

Cheers.; 10/11/14, 4:35 PM
David said...: “I have told my attacker that what he did to me wasn’t rape. I told him that it was, of course, totally consensual – I was just a bit drunk. Why? Because the truth was and remains uncomfortable – and terrifying when you speak it aloud… I remember how I tried to get away from him. And how he held me down, drunk. And how I have kept silent about it since the confrontation, apart from to reassure him that, no, no, of course it wasn’t rape and to please not be angry at me. I still have to see him frequently and I wouldn’t think of being brave enough to confront him or go to the police, unlike others. Does this make what happened to me truly consensual?”

Does this mean that I actually remember what happened and what I did? Can someone please supply me with a version of what happened that is going to make me feel better about myself? I will then embrace that version as the truth.; 10/11/14, 4:44 PM
David said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/11/14, 4:44 PM
Anonymous said...: What did they do about the "sexual harassment and assaults" of the grooming gangs?; 10/11/14, 5:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Well, the abuse by the grooming gangs started in the beginning of the nineties.
I did a count of the articles in the Guardian for the period 1/1/2000 to 1/1/2010 (Labour was in power then);

- 4 articles, but the BNP was also mentioned
- 1 other, under following label by google;
"In that scene, a gang of young white boys throw milk at a Muslim woman ... dealt with claims that a group of Asian men were grooming under-age white girls for"

And that's it.

(this as a response to Ann G); 10/11/14, 6:02 PM
Fen said...: The "stat" was supplied by a "lad" to other "lads" via newsletter. I don't believe it, but it's a piece of propaganda, not the product of the writer.

Maybe. It smells like the "lad" is also a product of the writer.

"If I can't find the mysognists I need to quote, I'll make them up..."; 10/11/14, 6:13 PM
themightypuck said...: Everyone should read Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of our Nature" which also happens to be what Bill Gates signals as his favorite book.; 10/11/14, 6:31 PM
Chuck said...: Sounds like Labour and the Obama Democrats have signed up with the same political consultants. Which means that the Guardian and the New York Times are going to appear even more identical than usual.

There's a parliamentary election in the UK in the foreseeable future, right? Time to ramp up "the war on women" for the electorate.; 10/11/14, 10:39 PM
Uncle Pavian said...: I get what a dunderhead is, but I'm baffled at the qualification "yooni-going". It seems to be a proper name common in some Asian country, but that doesn't make any sense in this context. A clarification would be most helpful.; 10/11/14, 11:59 PM
Anonymous said...: So the UK didn't have the "frat boy" type before "lads" ?; 10/12/14, 12:42 AM
Anonymous said...: I will miss chrisnavin.com.; 10/12/14, 7:50 AM
Trashhauler said...: In my experience, most college males are neither sensitive, arty types nor beer-guzzling, anti-scholar frat boys. Most of them want an education with maybe a little fun on the side.

You know, like real people.; 10/12/14, 11:56 AM
Anonymous said...: With all the jargon to describe people, this sounds like an attempt to rewrite "A Clockwork Orange".; 10/30/14, 10:29 AM