Lethbridge: Pro-Rape Rap Far beyond Thoughtless

By Gail Lethbridge
Chronicle-Herald
September 6, 2013

http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1152643-lethbridge-pro-rape-rap-far-beyond-thoughtless?from=most_read&most_read=1152643

Let’s call a spade a spade, shall we? Sex with underage girls who don’t consent is rape.

Chanting about rape in a public place and encouraging others to do so is inciting rape.

Rape is a criminal activity.

Ergo, the boys of Saint Mary’s University were promoting crime when they sang their pro-rape songs on campus last weekend.

And from what I could tell, they weren’t just singing. No, they were screaming it at the top of their post-pubescent lungs.

According to the student union president and the university administration, it was a lapse of judgment and the students probably didn’t know what they were saying, and if they did, they didn’t believe it.

Once you get past the lameness of this, ask them a few questions.

Would they have chanted about going out and smashing windows all over the south-end Halifax? What about a chant that celebrates mugging people on the streets and stealing their wallets? How about slashing tires? Or setting fires?

Lots of words rhyme with tire and fire.

No, they wouldn’t sing about that because those are criminal activities and wouldn’t be in keeping with the SMU spirit and brand. But cheering about raping underage girls — that’s OK, apparently.

The now-infamous chant is one of those rare moments when the velvet glove of sexual equality is removed and the iron fist of campus rape culture is revealed.

This is not some innocent lapse of judgment.

Stupid, yes. But not innocent.

If you haven’t already seen it, the chant spells out the word “young.” (And if you’re offended by pro-rape rap, don’t bother reading the rest of this paragraph.) “Y is for your sister, O if for oh so tight, U is for underage, N is for no consent, G is for grab that ass, SMU boys we like them young.”

Those lyrics didn’t just pop out of the air from nowhere. There was intent. And thought.

Someone sat down and took the time to compose the chant. It was probably a group effort over many beers. They will have typed it out and emailed it to campus orientation leaders.

Those leaders will have read the words, memorized them, practised the chant and taught it to incoming first-years.

The message to the sheep-like, slightly nervous, possibly overwhelmed frosh in their first week at university? On our campus, “no” means “you can have whatever you want, boys.” And if you’re underage, watch out, girls.

And that’s before the booze is consumed.

If you can get beyond the message, you have to marvel at the sheer stupidity of it.

Ding dong, people? Cellphones! They have video cameras. Videos can be uploaded in seconds. And then it’s “hello world.”

Did these student leaders — digital natives attending an institution of higher education — not think about the optics of this? Are they that ignorant of the social implications of pro-rape chants and the damage it could bring to their beloved university?

Did they not stop to think about Rehtaeh Parsons, the 17-year-old who died in April after an attempt to take her own life? Her mother says she was bullied after a picture of her sexual assault was circulated on social media.

And the administration’s response: shipping a bunch of students off to St. F.X. for weekend of “sensitivity” training? Sensitivity! What — so they can use more appropriate words in their rape chants? Or perhaps keep their voices down?

These kids don’t need sensitivity training. They need attitude lobotomies. And if this chant has been sung on the campus for the past few years, then the university administration has been asleep at the wheel.

If Saint Mary’s University wants to take action, it should start by making an example of the ringleaders. Suspend them for a week or two.

And then they should start the conversation about this whole sad episode in college buffoonery and sexual bullying.

Contact: glethbridge@herald.ca