SMU frosh chant perpetuates rape culture: sexual assault centre

A controversial chant was performed by 80 student leaders in front of about 300 of their first-year peers at Saint Mary's University on Monday.

Saint Mary’s University is under fire after a video of students chanting about non-consensual underage sex appeared on Instagram - a popular social media sharing site - this week.

The chant was performed by 80 student leaders – both male and female – in front of about 300 of their first-year peers at a frosh week event held Monday.

The students are heard chanting “SMU boys, we like them young. Y is for your sister. O is for oh-so-tight. U is for underage. N is for no consent. G is for grab that ass.”

Staff at the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre say they were “shocked” when they saw the video, which has since been taken down.

“The message of that chant reinforces rape culture in our society,” says the centre’s executive director, Irene Smith in a statement released Thursday.

“Rape culture is perpetuated through television, music, advertising and evidently this chant during frosh week activities at Saint Mary’s University.”

Smith says rape culture normalizes sexual assault and desensitizes both men and women to the issue of sexualized violence. She also says the centre has received calls from victims of sexualized violence who have been triggered by the video of the chant.

“The fact that 80 frosh leaders, young men and women, were enthusiastically saying those words on a football field signals that none of them questioned prior to the activity the affect and message those words have,” says Smith.

Some Saint Mary’s University students say the chant proves rape culture is a serious problem in our society.

“I think this is an example of the rape culture that exists on all campuses and in our lives and it’s something that needs to be taken seriously and addressed,” says student Elise Graham.

Jared Perry, president of the Saint Mary's Students Association, admits students may have been caught up in the moment and the message may have gotten lost.

“You know, a lot of our cheers don’t…when we do them, we don’t necessarily look at the message,” says Perry. “It’s more about the rhyme and the chant behind it.”

During a news conference held Thursday, Perry admitted to attending the event and even joining in the chant. He apologized for his actions, calling it the “biggest mistake” he has ever made.

He has since stepped down as chair of Students Nova Scotia, but will stay on as president of the Saint Mary's Students Association.

Smith notes that the incident comes at a time when Nova Scotians have become increasingly engaged in discussing the issue of sexualized violence, due to the the death of Rehtaeh Parsons.

The 17-year-old attempted suicide after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by several young men at a party in 2011.

The president of Saint Mary’s University apologized to the Parsons family for the incident during an interview on CTV Atlantic Thursday evening.

“I want to apologize, by the way, personally to the Parsons family because they’ve had enough to deal with and I think this is just another blow for them and I’m deeply troubled by that myself,” says Colin Dodds. “I just feel awful.”

Smith says it’s also discouraging considering the provincial government recently launched an ad campaign aimed at young men to educate them about consensual sex.

“It’s disappointing that the effort that government has put in recently to the poster campaigns, it’s talking about consent, that it did not hit that university demographic, at least those students,” says Smith.

As a result of the incident, student government leaders are being made to participate in a sensitivity training session which covers sexual assault and sexual violence.

“Look forward, we want to be some serious advocates about sexual assault and we want to turn this around and educate more students on it,” says Perry.

Marilyn More, Nova Scotia’s minister for the status of women, has also weighed in, saying she was shocked and disappointed that students would promote non-consensual sex with underage girls.

More says she would have expected people of that age to understand the inappropriate nature of the lyrics, but she added that it takes time to change attitudes around sexual behaviour.

Like Smith, she says it was particularly disappointing since the province recently launched an awareness campaign about the importance of sexual consent.

More says she doesn’t feel the students involved in the event should be expelled but is pleased to hear they will undergo sensitivity training.

"These are certainly young people that we would have thought had given more appropriate thought to the whole issue of sexual violence," she said.

"This has obviously prompted a lot of discussion. I think it's going to lead to even more discussion and action by students around the province. And hopefully these students can turn what was very inappropriate and upsetting into a learning opportunity and move on with their lives."

With files from CTV Atlantic's Kelland Sundahl, Nick Ritcey, Sarah Plowman, and The Canadian Press