What is ‘Lad Culture’ and how does it affect people?
‘Lad Culture’ is seen to have erupted during the Brit-Pop phase of the 1990’s and has continued to become a growing phenomenon in English speaking countries all over the world, including the UK, U.S. and Ireland. Frequently seen as a growing concern in the student population, the goal of this article is to assess, address and decipher the problems of Lad Culture in every day life, as well as look at the future prospects with a culture so strong.
So what defines ‘Lad Culture’?
The definition of Lad Culture varies according to where you read it but before defining the phrase, we believe that it’s important to break down the two words singularly, before putting the two together. The word lad is not new, and its definition has changed over time. For example, a lad simply used to refer to a young boy. Today, some define the term as ‘a boisterously macho or high-spirited young man.’ When we look to ‘Urban Dictionary’ for other definitions, we find much more explicit definitions, namely:
‘A lad is a male who specialises in creating and distributing exquisite banter. Though most lads are youngish (late teens and early twenties) age is not a defining characteristic and you will find both young lads and old lads. Some special skills of lads include, but are not limited to the following:
– Binning Pints
– Exposing genitalia and getting naked in public places
– Throwing up after copious alcohol consumption
– Spousal Abuse
– Getting kicked out of pubs/nightclubs for being overly offensive’
However, we cannot stop here. Culture is also a term that must be defined, and is commonly defined as: ‘the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts’. Cultures unsurprisingly vary according to what country you are in, which is why it comes as no surprise that some cultures are yet to experience the ‘Lad Culture’. When we put these two words together, the phrase ‘Lad Culture’ is formed, and is a combination of the latter term of lad, combined with other cultural formations. We wanted to reach out to people that have experienced lad culture first hand, and asked them their view on the phenomenon.
Firstly, speaking to a range of people from countries including Spain, Greece, Ireland, Germany and the U.K we were struck by the fact that in the Mediterranean countries and even Germany, it just didn’t exist at all. In fact, we found that those with whom we spoke to in these countries tended to be quite shocked by the idea of lad culture, explaining that it’s something that simply doesn’t exist in their own countries.
We interviewed a student in Munich, who light-heartedly said:
‘Just look around at parties! Do you see any kissing or dancing? Not in Munich! So here, everybody is shy and more and more tend to homosexuality!’
However, then we move onto the U.K and Ireland, and the results were both appalling, and quite upsetting at times. Reading into a report posted by the NUS (National Union of Students, UK) a bold figure that stuck in our minds was that 69% of students at university have been a victim of sexual harassment. This may seem like a shocking figure, however those that we interviewed argued that this is a conservative figure, and likely to be much higher.
Someone that we interviewed from Ireland said her view of lad culture is:
‘When you do something that impresses your friends (if you’re a male) you are a ‘lad’, but if a girl did the same thing they would be judged completely.’
Lad Culture in UK Universities
We’ve just read the shocking figure announced by the NUS, and this led us to research further into the UK University lifestyle, and we did this by speaking to students at different universities, combining their views to build upon the already evident culture in the UK.
A student from UCL said:
‘Lad culture is ridiculous. It perpetuates sexism in treating women as objects and being masculine. I think the whole ‘lad’ culture is just a giant d*** measuring contest made to look like a group of guys having fun, but really they’re just showing off to each other at the expense of common sense and respect for women’.
This same student, moved on to say that living in Japan is an entirely different experience. They explained that unless a particular person had lived or grown-up in another country like the U.S. they were unaware of the lad culture phenomenon.
Another student from Exeter said:
‘Unfortunately lad culture is an intrinsic and subtle part of English culture, most pertinent in student life. The definition of lad culture would differ slightly from person to person but for me it’s the rewarding of behaviours, that are typically considered masculine (i.e. aggressive, assertive) to such a degree that these behaviours are exasperated. Assertiveness becomes not taking no for an answer and aggression becomes shoving a hand up a girls skirt or holding her against a wall until she agrees to kiss you. In short, lad culture perpetuates and even encourages sexual assault. This encouragement is usually crafted in typically all male environments (like sports clubs) where such a strong sense of camaraderie is formed that behaviours that normally would be inexcusable become accepted. Sexual harassment is seemed as harmless, just boys being boys. Slapping a girls bum, is harmless, just a joke, no thought given to the girl you’re making a victim for the sake of your joke.’
It’s already frighteningly clear that many UK universities are suffering from this phenomenon, and many universities are only now beginning to react to the abusive nature of this issue. Before we delve deeper into who is affected by this culture, a few other key terms must be considered, and we must also assess the origins of ‘Lad Culture’.
Ladette
This is also slowly increasing in popularity and is a term used to describe young women who also take part in laddish behaviour. The dictionary definition of ‘Ladette’ is: ‘Young women who behave in a boisterously assertive or crude manner and engage in heavy drinking sessions’. Young women have followed suit in this culture dropping the demure lady-like image in favour of brutish, laddish ways as they don’t feel that hell raising should purely be left to the boys. The women are now expected to get as drunk as the men on nights out and are labelled as frigid if they behave otherwise.
Banter
Banter can be defined as the playful exchange of teasing remarks in a good-humoured manner. Unfortunately, a more sinister use of the word gets thrown around all too often as a means of masking derogatory comments and just waving them off as banter and a bit of harmless fun.
Where does Lad Culture originate?
‘Laddism’ is said to be a backlash to feminism and the trend of ‘Girl Power!’ that was dominant during and pre- the 1990s. Men saw themselves as battered by feminism and humiliated as they were expected to satisfy the needs of a woman, whether it be carrying out chores or also cooking in the kitchen. The idea of a ‘new man’ began to form in the 1990s and was heavily featured in men’s magazines. This ‘new man’ became synonymous with cars, alcohol, women and sex and was a rebellious attitude against monogamy, marriage and the traditional family structure.
Specifically, it was what is known as ‘second-wave’ feminism, which acted as the trigger for the discontent among men. This ‘second-wave’ feminism was not concerned with suffrage but instead with such wider issues as sexuality, family, legal inequalities and the workplace. This wave resulted in successes for women including; job gains in professions, the media, the military and sports, which previously had been dominated by men.
One of our interviewees also said:
‘I think it stems from societal pressures on men to prove themselves, especially when they’re directly competing against each other.’
It’s simply not cool to be a feminist if you’re a man. There are societal pressures to fit in, and fitting in is something that’s existed for centuries. Sticking out from the rest makes you a target, and no-one wants to unnecessarily paint a target on their own back. In the long run, it can lead to the exclusion from activities, and slowly, male feminists find themselves becoming social outcasts. Male feminists are seen as weak, and the lad culture perpetuates that a male feminist is clearly less masculine, which leads back to the damage of a male ego. This attack on male feminists makes it harder for people to stand up against the lad culture, particularly in universities and instead sees them being forced to fit in with the phenomenon, which in turn adds fuel to the fire. Many of those that don’t have a problem with lad culture, will use this fear as an excuse for the phenomenon, stating that many don’t have a problem with the culture, when in fact it’s likely that they’re afraid of saying something for fear of their own social reputation.
Who is affected by this new phenomenon?
The constant clash between feminism and ‘machoism’ or ‘ladettes’ and ‘lads’, all comes down to the battle of the sexes. Feminism is on the rise in universities however, many men feel alienated by this movement and women don’t appear to strive for gender equality but instead engage in anger-fuelled arguments and ‘man bashing’. A lot of the time their response to lad culture is to preach that women are better than men. On the other hand, social media pages have been established ridiculing ‘the weaker sex’, claiming women to be less capable, over-emotional and unable to take a joke.
We have also seen a rise in the objectifying of women. This is prevalent in various forms of media including; music videos, billboards and magazines. Female dancers can be seen on a regular basis parading around male musicians on television and women are cleverly marketed to men in the porn industry as a sex object available to satisfy their needs at all times of the day. This perception of women that has developed over the Internet has transcended into day-to-day life through cat calling, groping in clubs and crude jokes.
The movement against this misogyny
The lad culture has reached a level that has sparked several counter movements. The everyday sexism project was developed, as it seemed to be increasingly difficult to talk about sexism, women’s rights and equality without being labelled as ‘prudish’ or a ‘militant feminist’. The everyday sexism project is a means of sharing stories of sexism, people have experienced in their daily lives. A few examples of the comments shared include:
‘At work, men converse freely with each other; I speak with the only female waitress? We’re ‘gossiping’ and not doing our jobs’.
‘Comments on how lucky I am to have a helpful husband rather than him being lucky to have a wife who shares the financial load’.
‘My male boss finally agrees to give me a requested pay rise, I replied I’m very grateful to you for sorting it out form. He replied ‘It’s a good job you’re married or I would ask you to show me how grateful’.
Another campaign that is gaining in popularity is the ‘HeForShe’ campaign that was founded by the celebrity Emma Watson. The focus of this campaign is to not alienate either gender when fighting for equality between the two but to instead create a solidarity movement unifying everyone’s efforts. The ‘HeForShe’ campaign was born as a result of the negative connotations associated with feminism and developed itself on the intent of not excluding men in the campaign for exterminating gender discrimination and violence.
Global summits are even being called for, and the NUS are calling for a summit against the lad culture within universities. In order to understand the true nature of lad culture, one must look to resorts such as Magaluf, and the university nightlife that has swept the U.K. You can also look to fraternities in the U.S., the initiations that must be carried out, and the deaths and suicides that occur as a result of these forced actions. ‘Safer Sex Balls’, graphic wording on t-shirts and even beauty pageants suggesting winners should strip down and bare all are all things that are only now being addressed by organisations in a bid to prevent the fire from spreading further.
The rest of the world
These feminist and ‘anti-lad’ movements tend be focused around the U.K and the U.S. specifically, and as we’ve already seen, there seems to be a clear distinction between the rest of the world and the U.K/U.S. Why is lad culture yet to exist in these other countries? Does it come down to culture or a lack of societal mannerisms that exist in the English speaking countries? Is it something that’s just yet to reach these other countries?
After further research, we found that there is a small, but growing movement in Germany, however it is something that is yet to reach the general public. Germany is a much more conservative country, which is why there seems to be a rejection of lad culture, due to the reserved nature of many. In Spain and Greece we found that there was a much stronger connection between women and men, with both being accepted in the work place. Women are not expected to ‘know their place’ and there seems to be a much stronger equality that exists across these countries. However, that’s not to say that in the future this may change. As a global movement grows to make a stand against the behaviour of ‘lads’ we run the risk of more people involving themselves in this type of lifestyle. That said, we think it’s clear that there is a lack of response for this sort of behaviour, probably partially down to the fact that there is a lack of it in the student lifestyle and younger, meaning that they do not grow up with the problem in their culture. We also know that there was less of a Feminist movement in lots of other countries across the world, meaning that as a result, the Brit-pop culture of the 1990’s in the U.K. was not simulated in other countries.
What does this mean?
It is clear that there has been a growing social acceptance of lad culture in the U.K, the U.S and now even other countries but on a much smaller scale. Sexual harassment in U.K. universities is widespread, and universities are only now beginning to stand up against it and punish those responsible. This lad culture has become widespread and has existed for the last 25 years, meaning that is something that has become ingrained into the culture of both the U.K and the U.S. Only now are influential people and large organisations making a stand against the widespread phenomenon, and the effect of this is unlikely to be felt for quite some time. That said, by simply being more considerate of one another, and rejecting the lad culture on a day-to-day basis, it will help reduce the widespread misogyny. Equality is something that global leaders and the everyday-person strive for, and lad culture acts as a way to prevent equality being reached. We’re not going to try and say that you can’t go and be a ‘lad or ladette’ but we’re simply pointing out the effects that this behaviour has on others.
