Female students are often subjected to unwanted harassment during freshers; events, and sites like Uni Lad continue to spread misogyny to their 40,000 strong Twitter followers. Sheffeld University's freshers' week is being promoted by Eat My Disco, which promises 1 pound doubles, and 'topless bar staff' at the nightclub Relica. Carnage, the UK's "best student event," is still sponsored by Loaded and Nuts and is famous for its Pimps and Hoes nights. Freshers' week still carries the twin expectations for many students that they'll get drunk and get laid. Perhaps that's putting it a little bluntly but it only echoes a 2012 flyer from Eat My Disco which declared "YOU'RE GOING TO GET LAID!" The ad was promptly banned by the Advertising Standards Authority.
The frequently encountered combination of cheap alcohol, dark rooms and misinformed views can be alarming for any female student. However, freshers can hopefully have a misogyny-free week if they follow these guidelines. Freshers' events this year have been toned down. Fancy dress themes have been scaled back from "Slag 'n' Drag" nights, as promoted at York and Oxford Universities' in 2012, to school disco or beach party events. Club promoters are forever on the lookout for female students with tight budets. Don't be swayed by flexible shifts or the prospect of partying while you work. Partying while you work becomes a lot less desirable when you're seen as little more than a fleshy object by the majority of drunken revellers. Get involved with the Every Day Sexism Project on Twitter, and use social media to share your experiences to a wider audience than just your uni campus. Because, sadly, we can say, sexism doesn't end at freshers' week.