A hot topic in this week’s “Let’s Politicize Student Culture” segment revolves around Queen’s University’s “Racist Party.” To recap, a select few students participated in a celebratory private party called “Beerfest,” comprising of competing countries in a drinking competition: a kind of sadistic model UN. However, the representation of these countries amplified reductive stereotypes; students sported garments from bald caps with monk robes to sombreros with prison suits. While I trust that none of these costumes were donned out of sheer cultural discrimination, they have been perceived as otherwise. The party is receiving criticisms of cultural appropriation and racism, and these allegations will not be easily escaped. Irrespective of this controversial celebration of cultural appropriation, my criticism comes from another avenue.
You see, here at Western University, although we like to play along with our school rivalries and relish in the downfall of Queen’s, we also never cease to call to action our moral supporters in a time of need, in a time of senseless oppression of fellow elites. We must not condemn our equally wealthy counterparts, our surely squeaky clean, Ivy-league-adjacent Queen’s friends for their misguided actions. No – we must defend them! And what better way for Western to come to the rescue than initiating an explicitly misogynist woman-hating session, targeting any criticism of the Queen’s “Racist Party,” out there for all eyes to see on the fashionably informal platform of Facebook.
Therein lies my internal moral battles and blood boiling disapproval. Let me contextualize this trend of misogyny for you. While scrolling through my Facebook feed, I came across a popular post criticizing the very woman who called the actions of the Queen’s students into question. Her name is Celeste Yim, a young student from the University of Toronto, and self claimed (and maybe mislabeled) “first female Chinese comedian.” However, Yim committed no crime in highlighting the racist nature of “Beerfest” and her entire argument had validity, as widespread Canadian media recognition would imply. I find nothing outlandish about a “female Chinese comedian” feeling triggered by photographs of women with chopsticks in their hair. Nonetheless, my fellow cohorts at Western seemed to find her whistle blowing * downright absurd. So ensues the misogyny-fueled storm of social media hate.
A group of flaccid, rich, evident anti-feminist men (as well as a few women) took the time to not only discredit Yim as a writer and academic due to her lack of merit, but continued to devalue every word of hers based on one sole factor – her gender. The barbaric comments began with criticism of Yim’s participation in Huffington Post (a visibly popular comment, indeed), and continued to mock her political and creative preferences. The nature of the posts was simple: disregard everything (true or false) Yim has to say because she has a “vagina” (a word used as a weapon of degradation in various comments). As hyperbolic as this may sound, it is not far off from statements being posted on this “Down with Celeste” parade. One sarcastic statement reads, “Celeste is f*cking hilarious and really brave. Even though all of her stand-up is probably gross jokes about her vagina, she is super funny. Like all girls” – Did I miss something here? Does having a f*cking vagina make a person less funny, less intelligent, less reliable? Rest assured, the parade of patriarchy only intensified after this instigation.
Comments followed condemning comedian Amy Schumer for mentioning her vagina as well, followed by more remarks directed to female comedians, in a tone consistently embodying the cheap brand of sarcastic and woman-belittling Bro-humour favoured by my more banal male peers since high school: “Girls rule, women are funny, get over it.” I was not aware that an explicitly racist university party could result in an ‘Insult Any Feminist You Can Name’ conference. Great defence, guys. Use what you got. The unfortunate thing is, these pithy, smugly toxic slaps in the face of female-driven comedy – and, on a larger level, feminism – seem widely applauded: an aforementioned post mocking Celeste Yim received 77 likes. The Facebook campaign of hate against Yim has reached aggressive heights, and this transcription of self-congratulatory, violent gender discrimination raises some questions. Is the woman-hating stench emanating from Trump’s camp so pungent that it’s wafted north to Canada? Or is misogyny trending?
This is the ubiquitous issue at hand with my school. While Queen’s may be facing allegations of racism, it looks like Western could not sit tight and watch from the sidelines. We had to introduce sexism into the headlines, in order to keep a competitive edge and suit up for battle beside our fellow students. Misogynist “humour” is consistently used as a weapon against women in these conservative Canadian upper-class universities, and it is time to bring this trend to attention. I cannot comprehend why our generation has a tendency to commit the extremes – we are either ‘too politically correct’ or ‘anti-politically correct’ and for some reason, we can find no equilibrium. This contention is similar to what divided America in their recent tragedy otherwise known as the presidential election. However, is this our ill-fated future? Is it only full of divergence and incongruity? Are we going to be either the racists, instilling fear in racial, cultural and ethnic minorities on campus, or those calling out racism on Huffington Post? Are we going to be misogynists creating a place of fear for women on social media, or those calling out such hate displays? We are still battling social group discrimination led by the dominant white patriarchal population of the university ‘bro culture’, and if this concern isn’t addressed publicly, I fear it will only flourish.
In lieu of my commentary, I am prepared for any social media backlash from my popular male hate convention since I, as a woman, have a vagina and – God forbid – have an opinion.