CW: Discussion of sexual harassment and assault
Several Year 11 students have been suspended from Melbourne’s prestigious Yarra Valley Grammar for sharing a spreadsheet containing photos of their female classmates and ranking them in categories.
The developments come as Australia is reckoning with a surge in violence against women, with tens of thousands of people marching across the country in the last fortnight.
Female students at Yarra Valley Gramamr were ranked in categories such as “wifeys,” “cuties,” “mid,” “object,” “get out” and “unrapable.” The spreadsheet was shared on the messaging app discord.
Yarra Valley Grammar Principal Mark Merry has described the post as “disgraceful.” “As a father, I find it absolutely outrageous, disgraceful, offensive. As a principal, I need to make some decisions [about] what we do about all of this.”
“My first impulse and concern is about the wellbeing of the girls concerned. I want to make sure they feel assured and supported by the school,” Merry said.
He said police had been notified due to the word “unrapable” being used in the post – and in the event that there had been criminality involved.
“We are going to be consulting the police because the language used could be an inferred threat. I don’t think it was, but we need to get further advice on that…I’m hoping it was an appalling lapse of judgment,” he said.
Earlier this year, former female staff at Sydney’s Cranbrook School warned of a ‘toxic culture,’ as the school prepares to go co-ed. Former Cranbrook mathematics teacher Jasmin Hyde was so concerned by the behaviour that she submitted a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).
“In my experience, Cranbrook did not have a safe, inclusive and supportive culture for me and its female teaching staff,” she told the AHRC in October 2023. “It must change for my sake, and it must change for the sake of your current and future teaching staff, and the many young girls who are about to embark on their studies at Cranbrook.”
Last week, research by researcher Dr Samantha Shulz found heightened use of misogynistic language and behaviours by male students – with some as young as five years old. Teachers who participated in the survey also reported a heightened use of vulgar, sexualised and aggressive language being used primarily by young men during their interactions with women and girls.