The sexist reality of life inside one of Sydney University’s elite colleges is writ large on the pages of its student journal, which refers to female residents as “hoes” and “bitches” and tallies up their yearly “hook-ups”.
The Wesley College “RackWeb” receives a double page spread in the 2014 publication and charts the alleged “inter-college” relations of its students.
“We might be sexist, but you lovely bitches and hoes should know we’re trying to correct this,” one section reads.
First-year students are celebrated for their “willingness to put out for their seniors” and for “enabling all the hook-ups a sleazy, pussy-hungry adolescent could dream of”.
Those who don’t know what a “rack” is are encouraged to “ask a senior to demonstrate.”
The Wesley College RackWeb. Source: Aparna Balakumar for Pulp
The journal also includes a list of awards for female students including "best ass", "best cleavage" and "biggest porn star" and crowns one with unenviable title of "Mrs RackWeb" for having had the most sex on campus.
"People just don't understand. They think I'm exaggerating and my disenchantment has no substance," one female student anonymously told journalist Aparna Balakumar about her time at the college, "it's worse than people could ever imagine."
The student said she was harassed online by a group of male students after one of the them sexually assaulted her.
She also said the victim-blaming culture in the residence was so insidious she began to blame herself for the attack.
"They made it seem like I was the slut in the situation," she said.
"It stripped me of all self-worth, of all self-respect, just everything because I was taken advantage of so much.
"The whole idea of college is pretty much you’re a slut if you’re a girl no matter what you do and you’re just a king if you’re a guy. "
Another student revealed she was so frightened of being "sl*t shamed" she refused to have relationships with boys from the University.
Some of the 'awards' listed in the journal. Source: Aparna Balakumar for Pulp
Wesley College said it had "zero tolerance" for the kind of "anti-social" behaviour extolled in the book and denied any staff involvement in its production.
"The Student's Club has apologised for the content of the 2014 journal and has agreed that the journal will no longer be published," college master Lisa Sutherland told the Sydney Morning Herald in a statement.
She said an official yearbook will replace the journal from now on, however it remains unclear how the college plans to tackle the broader issue of sexism in its ranks.
A number of students left the college in 2014 after a "Christmas in July" where intoxicated attendees were pressured into stripping off for the annual nude calendar to raise funds for Wesley’s Overseas Student Experience.
In 2012, the college made headlines when more than 100 stubby holders bearing the words "it's not rape if it's my birthday'' were distributed at an O-Week party.
It comes just one month after a video surfaced of male student at University of New South Wales singing a "pro-rape" chant, sparking protests on campus.
Feature image: Wikipedia/Aparna Balakumar for Pulp.
Top Comments
So universities are hotbeds of sexual assault, objectification of women, slut shamming, rape culture, hook up culture... In the US even Obama claims one in five women on campus will be sexually assaulted or raped, making US colleges more dangerous than war zones like the Congo where there are actual rape squads.
For over 30 years now these institutions in the west have been firmly controlled by the left, and this is the unsafe, anti woman environment they have achieved? Maybe it's time to replace the left and put conservatives in charge, for the sake of our daughters safety.
Honestly, I fear for the future of our young women and girls - what hope do they have of ever being respected, as human beings in a fair and just society, anywhere in this evil world? Sadly, men have not evolved, they have devolved.
I so agree Moz.