We often have to combat "secret" misogyny. We have to battle against deep-seated stereotypical views of men and women that work against equality, feed sexist cliches and mask gendered violence. And yet with a deftness of touch, Uni Lad – a website for "LADS" – exposed these stereotypes to their bare essentials. Not only comically but sartorially (thankfully their T-shirt shop is still open); they provide us with ram-down-our-throats obvious signposts for the kind of men you don't want to be stuck at the bar with.
Nothing in the views of Uni Lad as expressed on their blog, their Facebook page or their merchandise site shows to me that they are anything but a vehicle for the socially conservative, morally regressive and privileged. The use of "lad culture" to peddle the unfunny and ill-cultured is not unique to them – and indeed, to their credit, they seem to have retreated from the internet to lick their wounds.
They did (until they thought better of it and took it down) sell a shirt on the ubiquitous "Keep Calm and Carry On" theme with the wildly imaginative alternative "Keep Calm, It Won't take Long". A hilarious nod to rape. I can't wait for their "Keep Calm and Don't Tell Mum" T-shirt, but I fear that they will shy away from paedophilia jokes in a way that they didn't from adult rape.
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