It is one of Exeter Uni’s most anticipated events, organised by RAG to raise money for charity, as well as promoting awareness of the importance of safe sex, and has been deemed one of FHM’s top 100 things to do before you die. Last year, around 4,000 students attended, raising £40,000 for supported causes. However this year’s Safer Sex Ball has come under fire for it’s ‘Tribal’ theme, with a Facebook campaign branding it racist and urging the committee to reconsider.
The group, “Campaign against racist Safer Sex Ball theme (“Tribal”)”, was set up on Thursday 15th November, and at the time of writing had gained over 150 ‘likes’. It argues that “students across campus are appalled by the choice of theme” and want it to be changed, as well as a public apology from the SSB committee, who should also go through ‘Privilege Awareness Training’. In defending it’s definition of the SSB theme as ‘racist’, the society behind the campaign – Exeter Students for Social Justice, or ESSJ for short – argues that: “Given the legacy of British colonialism, this theme encourages white British students to put on racist stereotypes of what they think ‘tribal’ means, stereotypes which inevitably attack non white students”
However as well as provoking debate over the ‘tribal’ theme, the campaign has also faced a strong backlash. On Facebook, the “Campaign against the campaign against racist Safer Sex Ball theme (“Tribal”)” group was created on Tuesday, gaining over 200 ‘likes’ before being taken down 2 days later. A further “Campaign against the campaign against the campaign against racist Safer Sex Ball theme” group has appeared in the last week – anyone else’s head spinning yet?!
In a statement announcing the theme, the SSB committee expressed a desire to see ‘an explosion of bright colours and patterns’, pointing to the emergence of the tribal trend on both catwalks and in music videos alike – such as that of Rihanna’s hit ‘Where have you been?’. They asked that students be creative but at the same time respectful of other cultures – it seems that their intention was celebration not degradation. To this, ESSJ responds that “at an overwhelmingly white university, the only representation students of colour will have at this event is in the racist stereotypes used to decorate the walls and white bodies on the dance floor.”
One thing is for sure – both the theme and the campaign against it have provoked some strong opinions. One anonymous University of Exeter student was quoted by ESSJ as saying: “Either the theme goes, or I do”. Another, Alexandra D’Sa, argued that “there is a lot of scope for people…to be racist or to offend others, and that could be limited by renaming the theme”, whilst author John Green took to twitter to support the campaign.
This is not the first time the SSB has drawn controversy – last year, RAG was forced to apologise after a rape joke appeared in the SSB magazine. To date, both the University and RAG seem to have maintained silence over the issue of the theme. However in February, the Guild issued a statement entitled “A response to banter”, concerning cross-dressing and blacking up, in which they asked that students remain “culturally sensitive” whilst pretending to be of a different ethnic appearance, writing that attitudes expressed by those doing so could sometimes be both “racially and culturally insensitive”.
Current Exeter Uni student, Michael Giblin-Burnham expects that “there will probably be a lot of different outfits based on different cultures but I expect many will pick outfits that actually ‘speak’ to them because, I truly feel, this is an open minded university in an open minded country at an incredibly open minded time”. HCX wonders – what do you think about the SSB theme?
Image Credits: facebook.com, lowefactor.com