’Is it okay to go out on the pull without it being nasty?’: lads’ performance of lad culture

ABSTRACT

Lad culture is pervasive in UK higher education, fuelling misogyny and violence towards women. Lad culture is commonly described as mix of boorish socialising, drinking, sport and pack behaviour. This study reports on the attitudes and experiences of laddish students from a UK university. Laddish behaviours were ubiquitous in their university lives. They were well aware of the harm lad culture causes but struggled to manage their behaviour. Being a lad is an important part of their identity. With their lad friends they relaxed their performance of assertive masculinity. Interviewees identified banter within their friendship group as an essential social currency but were explicit that banter aimed at other people was bullying. Academic success was important and was gained in part by making a distinct break from anti-academic lads. Their self-awareness and willingness to engage with the issue offers opportunities for more effective interventions to combat misogyny.

KEYWORDS:

• Lad culture
• masculinities
• UK higher education

Acknowledgements

The interviewees’ willingness to take part and continued support were vital and greatly appreciated. I am grateful to Ruth Lewis, Alison Phipps and Jon Swords for astute critiques and support of this work. Two referees provided very thoughtful and helpful critiques of the initial submission.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Michael Jeffries is an ecologist whose research focuses on pond and wetland biodiversity, especially how these change in response to extreme weather. The fragmented, transitory world of ponds and their wildlife is not a million miles from his other interests in collage, zines and skateboard culture. His exploration of the impacts of lad culture grew out of an increasing concern that students are more challenged by vulnerable mental-health, demotivation and loneliness than any worries about how to do statistics or cite references.

Additional information

Funding

The interviews were conducted as part of a project which was supported by a Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund award from Northumbria University.