She states there were ‘just loads of avenues which were ignored’.

She told us that the herd is made up of ‘mostly white women’, and the training sessions fail to focus on specifics within sexual misconduct, placing everything under the umbrella of ‘sexual harassment’. It whitewashes the efforts of the black women behind #MeToo and is problematic in this way.’ This issue was further identified by a female person of colour who trained as a herd member.

The Not Cool Club took this movement and framed it through its own lens which, consciously or not, is white-centric. One UCLove contributor shared their grievances on the topic, saying ‘ The club’s website cites the #MeToo movement as its inspiration, but nowhere does it credit Tarana Burke and the other incredible black women who laboured and persevered to ensure that the voices of black victims of sexual violence were heard. Women of colour suffer even higher rates of sexual harassment and violence due to systemic racism, yet the club appears silent on such matters. The club notably fails to address and represent POC voices as effectively as it could. There is also a limited visibility of LGBTQI+ issues within the campaign, strengthening a cis- and hetero-normative binary of perpetrators and victims – a narrow-minded approach to say the least. This attitude is flawed as it doesn’t allow space for change within existing patriarchal structures.įrom the inception of the club, intersectionality did not seem to be one of their core values and is exhibited very little on their social media. It appears that the Not Cool Club’s mentality is that men only listen to other men. Furthermore, by promoting the men’s rugby club on their social media, the Not Cool Club both reinforces and perpetuates a dominant male narrative of what is socially acceptable behaviour. Does this mean that they are simply trying to improve the image of their team, after being infamously disaffiliated from the UCL sports union for sexist and racist chants on a night out, amongst other sexual harassment claims? Emphasising the conversation within groups of men and advertising the sessions as a space for men to reform their own image eclipses the experience of first-hand trauma, and potentially does more harm than good if they do not learn anything valuable from the sessions but go away convinced that they have. We can’t help but question the motives of the rugby team members, with one interviewee stating their reason for partaking in the session as, ‘ a conscious effort to change that kinda perception like around the whole rugby club thing, and particularly around sexual harassment ’. It recasts a powerful campaign as something both unsuccessful and ineffective.īoasting the transformative powers of the ‘Not Cool Sessions’, the infamously disbanded UCL men’s rugby team appeared in the BBC segment on the Not Cool Club which was then highlighted on their social media. Undermining the success of the #MeToo movement in this way is incredibly problematic. Despite this, the society infers that this was not enough to end sexual misconduct ‘ once and for all’, and that ‘only’ their techniques would ‘ be able to put an end to sexual harassment’. They state on their website, ‘ Inspired by #MeToo, we noticed the majority of engagement with this topic was coming from the victims themselves’.

A further problem with the inception of the club is its apparent dismissal of the #MeToo movement. It is difficult to see how this origin story relates to the club’s focus, as what Ian observed in India differs vastly from the kinds of sexual harassment and microaggressions occurring on university campuses. Ignoring the influence of a complex array of cultural factors, he misguidedly then applies this experience to campus life. Ian, the founder, claims his reasons behind starting the club were rooted in an experience he had whilst travelling in India, when he came face to face with child trafficking. Firstly, the voices of those who have been sexually harassed, but also the voices of those (both men and women) who have done – and continue to do – some incredible work to combat sexual harassment. Whilst obviously well-intentioned, the Not Cool Club appears to be missing some crucial elements in their image. They seemingly aim to promote confidence in students and call out peers’ behaviour in order to make sexual harassment ‘not cool’. The Not Cool Club was founded last year as a student-led society striving to tackle sexual harassment on campus. NIFF O’NEILL & MILLIE KHANGURE outline their opinions on the shortfalls of the Not Cool Club.

The unherd