De Montfort University:
Not just "harmless fun"
THE STATEMENT below, from the Socialist Students Society at De Montfort
University (DMU) in Leicester, shows their angry response to their local
Students’ Union Executive, who had decided to hold a ‘Miss DMU contest’ at the
university.
DMU SOCIALIST Students strongly condemn the DMU Students’ Union Executive
for holding a ‘Miss DMU’ contest. We consider this to be a reactionary and
sexist event that promotes the objectification of women.
The President of DMU Students’ Union, Richard Treffler, insisted during a
meeting with Socialist Students’ representatives on 31 January, that the ‘Miss
DMU’ event was just "harmless fun". Speaking for the whole Students’ Union
Executive, he said that the holding of the contest was not contrary to the
Students’ Union’s own paper commitment to promoting equality.
No doubt many students do see the event as "harmless fun". But Socialist
Students does not. We would counter that the attitudes it breeds, primarily
that women are objects, is at best reactionary and at worst very dangerous.
True, this event on its own is not responsible for the existence of women’s
oppression. No one, least of all us, would make such an overtly stupid
suggestion.
Wrong signals
However, in its own small way, by sending out the wrong signals to the
student population, by promoting the objectification of women, the SU
Executive have contributed towards the overall oppression of women. The SU
Executive is guilty of reinforcing sexist ideas through this event, especially
amongst the male student population.
When a student makes a sexist comment in the future or is found guilty of
sexual harassment or even worse, how will the SU Executive react? How can the
SU Executive oppose sexism or sexual harassment without now being
hypocritical? The objectification of women in society fuels these acts, from
mindless comments, to acts of serious sexual violence.
The ‘ideal’ body image propagated in the capitalist media in order to sell
more beauty products and undermine the confidence of women, contributes to the
upsurge in eating disorders, self-harm, depression, and dangerous dieting
amongst young women. The Students’ Union, as the representative body of
students, should be fighting against sexist advertising, not producing its
own!
Nationally, the NUS is running a campaign entitled ‘a woman’s place is in
the union/ in education’. We fully support this campaign to challenge sexist
stereotyping. Unfortunately, the message of this campaign is lost on the DMU
Students’ Union Executive. Maybe they will run a counter-campaign under the
slogan ‘a woman’s place is in swimwear on a stage in our nightclub to help us
sell more alcohol’.
Open letter
THE DMU SU Executive could slightly redeem themselves if they now put
significant energy and finance into promoting progressive NUS campaigns
against sexism and all forms of discrimination. We look forward to seeing if
this happens.
Socialist Students produced an open letter addressed to the SU Executive
and also met with the President to patiently explain our case, all to no
avail. Whilst admitting that some of the advertising had gone "a bit too far",
the President resolutely defended the event – but without offering a serious
reply to our objections.
Commercial considerations would appear to come first for the SU. The SU-run
nightclub, Level 1, also holds an event called ‘Porn Night’. This is a night
where students go dressed up in stereotypical outfits associated with porno
movies!
The prime consideration appears to be getting as many people into the club
as possible to maximise takings at the bar. The SU Executive should not allow
the nightclub, supposedly under its control, to produce sexist advertising or
to hold clearly sexist events.
DMU Socialist Students calls on the NUS leadership nationally to condemn
this event. The NUS President, Kat Fletcher, took part in a protest against
‘Miss World’, so we trust she is in agreement with us on this issue. We also
call on all Students’ Unions and SU Officers who agree with us to send letters
of protest to DMU SU Executive.
We also plan to organise a meeting very shortly on fighting sexism. We
would welcome the chance to debate the SU Executive at this meeting should
they wish to defend themselves.
We make no apology for the seriousness with which we take the fight against
sexism. We stand squarely behind the struggle of all those oppressed under
capitalism. The oppression of women is not something we see as ‘natural’ – but
rather as a direct consequence of the nature of class-based society.
Therefore, whilst fighting for every step forward for women under
capitalism, we also put forward the overthrow of capitalism and the
construction of a democratic socialist society as the only way to end the
oppression of women once and for all.
Email letters of protest to the SU President:
[email protected]
Send copies to:
