Rape is no joke, photo by Paul Mattsson

Rape is no joke, photo by Paul Mattsson   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Mary Finch, Leeds Socialist Students

Misogynist comedian Dapper Laughs was recently set to tour the whole UK, performing in Glasgow, London, and among other places, Leeds.

Leeds Socialist Students immediately started a petition, which got 80 signatures in under an hour. At that point we achieved victory! The entire tour was cancelled after similar pressure nationally. The next day he announced that the Dapper Laughs ‘character’ was to be retired.

Outrage

Thousands signed a petition to ITV2 demanding that they cancel his show ‘Dapper Laughs: On the Pull’, which was quite literally a compilation of footage of Dapper Laughs following, verbally abusing, and sexually harassing women in the street. Dapper Laughs, and other misogynist comedians, reinforce the idea that it’s acceptable for men to behave this way, and that women just have to put up with it.

Socialist Students have been using the Rape is No Joke campaign in Leeds to tackle these issues across campus. At Leeds Beckett University, we won consent workshops, and we’re campaigning to do the same at Leeds University. We’re hosting our own Rape is No Joke night on 28 November, at The Fenton pub in Leeds, to prove that you don’t need misogyny to have good comedy.

Rape is not funny. Sexual harassment is not funny. Intimidating and abusing women is not funny. We should all have the right to feel safe. We should all have the right to walk home at night alone, without having to keep your hand in your pocket, thinking about how to use your keys as a makeshift weapon.

We have to challenge misogyny wherever we see it, on campus, in culture, and especially in politics. The three main parties, Labour, Lib Dem, and Tories alike, have slashed funding to services that women vitally rely on.

Socialist Students campaigns against sexism wherever it occurs, whether it’s from Dapper Laughs, or David Cameron.