The <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/groped-harassed-hounded-wesley-college-misogyny-crisis-widens-20210318-p57c1r.html">unfolding scandal</a> engulfing Melbourne’s Wesley College has been a long time coming. The truth-telling by young women students about their experiences of rape and the pervasiveness of sexual harassment show it has a serious problem with normalised sexism. As do the sexist displays by its male students.
As someone who endured their entire thirteen-year school life at this elitist institution, I can attest first-hand to the culture of entitled misogyny behind the elaborate St Kilda Road facade. 
It is simply not true, as some are claiming, that the public displays of sexism by Wesley boys in 2021 are new or isolated incidents. Indeed, if misogyny were personified as a Wesley student, he would be a celebrated prefect. This was plain to see when I was there as a student in the 1990s.
Wesley, originally an all-boys school, has been fully co-educational since the 1980s. As shown by recent events, the change to co-ed has done nothing to undermine the school’s sexist culture. If anything, it has highlighted that many Wesley boys are content to be sexist creeps to women of their own social class, mirroring events in federal parliament. 
In our classrooms, boys routinely harassed girls, chanting degradingly “it smells like fish” during lessons, for example. And young female teachers copped gross insults from belligerent sexist brutes. Boys created very public ranking systems of sexual desirability for female students at the school. Those deemed ugliest were vulnerable to more ridicule and openly canvassed as “suitable” for sexual assault—as long as a bag was placed over their head. 
The purple and yellow blazer of Wesley is a symbol of power and privilege. Students learn to look down on the plebs going to government schools as second-rate people at best. This was more than just attitude—sometimes violence followed. I remember mass physical brawls initiated by gangs of thuggish, entitled Wesley boys against the “wannabe private school” boys of public school Melbourne High down the road in South Yarra. 
The ruthlessness of competition and importance of winning was a natural part of the Wesley culture. In fact, we learned that competition against other elite children at their grammar schools was like war. The school’s socialisation and rituals were aimed at imbuing an understanding that Wesley students were the best, destined to be leaders in our chosen fields and entitled to a life of inherited rights associated with those born into wealth. 
There is something of an assumption that Wesley, with its Wesleyan Methodist roots, has a more liberal ethos than other elite private schools—a selling point to holier-than-thou do-gooder middle-class Melbourne families. This is a smokescreen. Wesley College is a powerful institution that has schooled captains of industry and numerous politicians over its 155-year history, including two Liberal Party prime ministers, one being Robert Menzies. 
Former student and “history war” warrior for the racist revisionist right, historian Geoffrey Blainey, describes in his official history of the school that only the wealthiest 5 or 10 percent of society could afford the fees, and hence were better equipped to advance into plum positions in business or politics. 
It was hard for boys like me who did not fit the masculine norms. You learned to survive, but Wesley was a dangerous place. Homophobia went hand in glove with misogyny. I remember clearly a homophobic teacher ridiculing an effeminate male student in a year eight science class. “Get out and go and do hairdressing and listen to Madonna”, the teacher said. The entire class laughed and turned on this student. 
Anyone who didn’t fit was fair game. I avoided most of this because I was pretty good at sport and because I had a brother with a reputation for using his fists when the need arose. 
Wesley College was built to teach and foster the idea of class power and privilege, of which misogyny is a crucial part. How could the administration of this school that embodies such self-entitled elitism act surprised when its male students perform their sexist rituals in public?

James Vigus

Wesley College, now and always had a problem with misogyny

Following the footy can be draining as you ride the highs and lows of your team’s fortunes. But there’s one low AFL fans shouldn’t have to endure every week: Sam Newman.
Every Thursday night, when thousands tune in to the Footy Show to find out the team selections for the weekend games, this Geelong Grammar educated Tory millionaire interferes with our enjoyment of the night.
Why should we have to put up with this bigoted moron? He mocks the poor, the unemployed, the disabled, and chastises women, gay people and non-whites.
Like thousands of AFL fans I was nauseated at Newman’s latest crap – a blatantly homophobic attack on Michael Sam, the first openly gay man to be drafted to the US National Football League.
Like many people I thought it was wonderful to watch the joy displayed by Michael Sam and his boyfriend at the news of Sam’s successful selection – and even more delightful to watch as they kissed and covered themselves with celebratory cake and cream.
Sporting commentary can be full of clichés and hyperbole, but this truly was a great sporting moment.
Newman obviously didn’t feel the same way about it– and he made sure everyone knew it. To Newman, the gay affection was an “annoyingly gratuitous act”. But thankfully sections of the studio audience booed him and the hosts were forced to shut him up and rightfully label his comments homophobic.
However it’s pretty sick that, more often than not, Newman’s bigoted performances go unchallenged. In 1999 he blacked up his face to impersonate Aboriginal footballer Nicky Winmar. At the time Winmar was leading a campaign against racism in the AFL.
Aboriginal players were copping it from both sides of the fence. But don’t think for a second that Newman is only racist to Aboriginal people – he’s likened a Malaysian man to a monkey, “not long out of the forest”.
His sexism is equally foul. In an appalling display Newman paraded around on the Footy Show stage with a mannequin model with a picture of football journalist Caroline Wilson’s face stapled on. Newman stripped the mannequin a number of times whilst “experimenting”, to use his words, with different outfits. It was a grotesque simulation of sexual abuse
But Newman’s reactionary attitudes are at their worst when, every week, he heads out onto the streets in the “street talk” segment of the show. This entitled rich prick singles out the mentally ill, mocks the poor and socially marginalised and pokes fun at working class culture.
The segment constantly depicts the residents of working class suburbs like Reservoir, Deer Park or Frankston as hopeless idiots.
I love the passion of debate and discussion that the football brings out in people. I love sitting in the stands yelling and screaming with thousands of others. I love participating in the detailed analysis with scores of others on a crowded train, bus or tram after a match about what should or shouldn’t have happened. I love the shenanigans between supporters of rival teams.
But it’d be so much better if we could have footy without bigots like Newman being paid to intervene and shape the culture of the game. Footy would be even better without him.

The footy would be so much better without Sam Newman

Left success at Flinders, by James Vigus
The Socialist Alternative-initiated ticket Action won a number of positions in the recent Flinders University student association elections, including president, welfare, postgraduate, abilities and a general member.
Running on a platform of opposing higher education cuts and standing for social justice, the ticket consisted of and/or had the active support of the non-Labor left, a number of international student clubs and various faculty clubs. The Action presidental candidate, Grace Hill, had a resounding victory.
Grace has been a leading anti-cuts activist in South Australia and is well known at Flinders for her socialist political activity. Her win, following recent victories for the left at Adelaide University, shows that a growing number of students in South Australia understand and support the idea that we need student unions to be political and active.
The Flinders student association has struggled to gain real independence from the administration. The strategy of the Labor-dominated incumbents had been to keep left wing politics out of the association, which meant that they didn’t support a number of successful rallies against the cuts. In fact, they were generally defensive, passive and hostile to the campaign.
Action’s success shows there is an audience among Flinders students that wants an association that will campaign against the cuts and be vocal about other injustices as well.
Campaign gets the left on the map at Vic Uni, by Michael Kandelaars
October saw the most hotly contested election in years at Victoria University.
The Victoria University Student Union has for years been run by students in the right wing of the Labor party. The Active Union ticket, initiated by members of Socialist Alternative, Socialist Alliance, and 11 independents, ran a progressive left wing campaign to challenge the incumbent Go! ticket.
Active Union argued for a left wing activist student union that would campaign against education cuts, support equal marriage rights, refugee rights, Palestine, stand against racism, and more. The Go! Campaign, by contrast, largely focussed on more barbecues, social events, and a commitment to run a toga party next year.
Refusing to be part of a genuine left ticket, students in the Labor left shamefully campaigned for Go!
Active Union won 455 votes to Go!’s 954. At the Footscray Park campus, which was the most contested, the vote was 354 to 548. Despite not winning control of the union, the election showed that hundreds of students agreed with our argument for a fighting active student union.
A sympathetic staff member approached me during the campaign to say, “I’ve been here for 12 years and have never seen an election like this. It’s fantastic!”
We’ll be back stronger than ever in 2014!

Wesley College, now and always had a problem with misogyny

The footy would be so much better without Sam Newman

Steps to the left in student elections

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