Male students treat women like meat - special investigation - PHOTO+VIDEO

What happens next is too graphic to describe in a family newspaper, other than to say it involves the woman being treated like a piece of meat by the pack of cheering, jeering men.And, of course, as is the way today, not only was the whole sordid scene filmed on a camera phone, but then, like some badge of honour, it was passed around social networking sites for thousands more to see.That such behaviour could never be deemed acceptable goes without saying. But still, many will be surprised to learn that the protagonists in this deeply depressing tableau were undergraduates at one of Britain’s largest universities.Some members of Leeds Metropolitan University’s rugby club, the Mail has been told, had drawn up a ‘bucket list’ of things they wanted to achieve in their final year. Group sex, it seems, was one of those ‘activities’.But, as the footage shot in May attests, they weren’t just content with that. Instead, they chose to further degrade the woman — a consenting participant by all accounts — not just with their foul and derogatory language, but by allowing it to be filmed and further circulated.While some may attempt to excuse such behaviour on the grounds that ‘laddish’ goings-on have been a staple of university life since time immemorial, others believe they are symptomatic of a far deeper malaise infecting the campuses of our universities.For as the new academic year begins, student leaders are warning female freshers to prepare for a barrage of misogynistic abuse, harassment and worse from their male counterparts. Indeed, so widespread and, seemingly, acceptable has this ‘lad culture’ become that barely a week goes by without shocking examples of it being exposed.Be it a club-night called ‘Freshers Violation’ at a nightspot in Leeds, or a student newspaper advising on how to make the date rape drug rohypnol, as happened at Imperial College London, everywhere boundaries are seemingly being crossed.Worse still, a survey released by the National Union of Students (NUS) this week found that more than a third of female students have faced unwelcome sexual advances at university, including groping and inappropriate touching — offences so serious, they could result in jail terms if taken through the courts.Worryingly, experts believe that prestigious establishments such as Oxford, Cambridge and other top universities are far from exempt from such behaviour.This, they say, is due to the fact that the privileged young men who attend them are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with being in direct competition with empowered, young women in an ever-competitive world.‘It is not working-class lads getting into university and bringing laddish culture with them, it is the privileged boys and young men who maybe feel a bit threatened,’ says Dr Alison Phipps, director of the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Sussex.‘This behaviour is a way of putting women back in their place. They are using sex and sexism to say, “this is our turf — get off it”.’Among those to have experienced this type of behaviour first-hand is 19-year-old Jinan Younis, a theology student starting her second year at Cambridge University.Within days of arriving at the university last year, she was invited to attend what is known as a ‘swap’ — a social event in which a male group from one college meets a female group from another.‘The idea is you go to a restaurant where you can bring your own alcohol and everyone gets very, very drunk,’ says Jinan, who attended Altrincham grammar school, in Manchester. ‘It is a way of meeting people from other colleges and making friends. The problem is, swaps often have dressing-up themes that are really sexist.‘The one I was invited to was entitled "What were you wearing when the police invaded the brothel?" I didn’t go. I just thought the message it gave off, as far as the sheer objectification of women, was terrible.’ Those fears were subsequently confirmed when Jinan learned of one male student whose sole claim to fame was that he had a ‘100 per cent success rate at swaps’.Other types of offensive behaviour quickly reared their heads. Visiting her college bar one evening, Jinan was mystified when a male friend she approached refused to speak to her. Only later did she learn why.Jinan explains: ‘The rugby team have a social game, the aim of which, essentially, is to have a boys’ night out. Their main idea is that “we don’t want to be distracted by girls”, (but they don’t use the word “girls”, it’s something far more vulgar).‘But what that translates to is sheer sexism. Because, essentially, under the rules of the game, they are not allowed to speak to any woman, unless they are their waitress — if they do, they get punched in the face as a punishment. 'Basically, we had been reduced to objects who [the boys] couldn’t be friends with, but who they saw as either potential “conquests” or waitresses.’(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.Az