The Voice of York Vision

Lad Culture has reared its ugly head yet again in York, being given a new spin on Tokyo’s Wheel of Doom. There’s something so depressing in intelligent young people giving in to peer pressure and publicly humiliating their peers. Tokyo isn’t exactly a paragon of innocence or virtue but there is almost certainly a line crossed when people are being undressed and being made to feel extremely uncomfortable in front of a room of normally level-headed and rational people. Frankly we should all know better.

Publicly degrading two people is completely unacceptable and the kind of thing that we should be rising above rather than encouraging. Though the two people involved are probably anonymous to the great mass that were at Tokyo that night, they have to carry with them the memory of what happened and deal with it. What for most people was hilarious for those two people can only have been distressing to put it mildly. Everytime Lad Culture seems to disappear, it reasserts itself in the ugliest way possible. So long as students, male and female, continue to buy into the culture of peer pressure and public humiliation events like Wheel of Doom will remain an embarrassing spear on the reputation of the collective student body.

York’s dismal career prospects have been an ever increasing worry for those of us either in or approaching our Third Year and the latest news is bleaker still. Of the Top 30 UK Universities, York ranked 26th for career prospects in the country. Since for many, University is as much about career post-degree as the experience itself the news is extremely disheartening. The fact is though perhaps mediated by the fact less than 50% of students actually use the university careers service. As much as our post-degree prospects might be dismal, if we aren’t making use of the careers service and making use of everything the university has on offer to help us with our career then we shouldn’t be shocked when prospects are so terrible. Multiple networking events are run yearly amongst other careers focused events and if students are really concerned about careers they should take advantage.

The imminent arrival of One Billion Rising on campus in York represents another step forward for women’s rights on campus. Though there is still a long way to go, the campaign which aims to end violence against woman and promote gender equality represents another move towards raising the issues and prejudice women still face on a day-to-day basis in the university. It is also part of a wider move that seeks to tackle nationally and internationally the still present problem of domestic abuse. It should not be taken for granted that equality has been achieved here and not elsewhere. It remains an issue to be campaigned on and fought for tenaciously, and One Billion Rising can only help to confront the issue and keep it on the agenda.