News Desk |
A group of nearly 200 women of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) protested outside the Office of Student Affairs on Monday against a Facebook group that posts and shares sexist messages on the female students of the varsity.
The Facebook group “Dankpuna at LUMS” having mostly male members was targeting women in the university with derogatory language, images, commentary, and obscenity. The group had six hundred members but the university has taken down the page ever since the protest.
“The memes [on the group] sexualised and objectified women students in the name of dark humour,” said one of the students organizing the protest while talking to local media. “The online forum, through its humour, encouraged both, directly and indirectly, acts of violence against women.”
LUMS is proud of its thoughtful students and encourages collective action on such issues. We hope that this event will help further the culture of respect on our campus,” said the official statement of LUMS.
The students have demanded the university to take the action against the admins of the Facebook group. “Our goal is not to just punish the perpetrators but to channel efforts towards bringing people into dialogue, creating awareness regarding cyberbullying and rehabilitating the offenders,” the student organizer said.
“Our families were also disturbed after seeing those posts. Therefore, we protested,” said a female student.” “We demand an action against the male students. Administration assured that they remove the posts. However, we demand an explanation from the boys involved in the incident,” said another student.
Whereas, LUMS itself condemning the unfortunate incident has assured the female students of appropriate action against the perpetrators and reiterated that university will live up to the par it has set.
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“LUMS is an institution that cherishes diversity among its student body. We provide an environment where students are encouraged to freely exchange ideas and debate and discuss issues important to them, among themselves and with various stakeholders.
In this spirit, a group of students along with members of FemSoc (Feminist Society at LUMS) approached the Dean, Office of Student Affairs, regarding a social media page where some students belonging to LUMS were sharing offensive, sexist memes.
The students and the dean had a detailed conversation and agreed that this is an unfortunate episode. However, it can actually help open doors to further the conversation on mutual respect and sensitize the community at large on gender issues.
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LUMS is proud of its thoughtful students and encourages collective action on such issues. We hope that this event will help further the culture of respect on our campus,” said the official statement of LUMS.