A third Melbourne school has been caught up in a sexist “ranking” of female students, after a disturbing list was found in one of the bathrooms.
Brentwood Secondary College in Glen Waverley says it is investigating after a photo showed a list written on a toilet door in a girls’ bathroom, ranking students who are the “biggest s****”, 7News reported.
“Anyone found to have engaged in such behaviour will face immediate disciplinary action,“ principal John Ballagh said.
The demeaning list is the third such incident in the past week.
Last week, four boys were suspended from Yarra Valley Grammar School in Ringwood after a “disgraceful” list was posted online rating their female classmates.
The list, shared on the messaging platform Discord, featured photos of female students and ranked them from best to worst as “wifeys”, “cuties”, “mid”, “object”, “get out” and “unrapeable”.
It was discovered by the school on Wednesday and the boys were suspended on Friday pending further investigation.
Yarra Valley Grammar principal Mark Merry described the post as “disgraceful”.
“Respect for each other is in the DNA of this school, and so this was a shock not only to us … but it was a shock to the year level and the boys in the year level that see this as way, way out of line,” he told 9News on Sunday.
He said he was offended by the final category, and has since reported the matter to police to ensure the list wasn’t linked to any criminal offence.
“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,” he said.
“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. 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 in judgement.”
It costs around $30,000 a year to send a student to the elite Ringwood private school, and Dr Merry said the school prides itself on teaching “respectful relationships”.
“We are well aware of the broader issues in relation to respecting women … we need to really do our best to ensure that young men understand their responsibilities and their boundaries of how they should behave,” he said.
On Tuesday this week, McClelland Secondary College in Frankston also said it was investigating a list which ranked female students.
The document, found on a computer, was believed to have been written by a Year 10 boy. “It’s disturbing,” the mother of a girl on the list told 7News.
“I was told it’s a rape and murder list. It’s unbelievable, the child was only suspended for a week. If he is to return, half of the girls in Year 10 won’t.”
Acting principal Laura Spence told the broadcaster said she was “very grateful to the students who immediately brought the matter to my attention”.
“The safety and wellbeing of our students is an absolute top priority for us, and we are supporting the students impacted by this behaviour,” she said.
“We have already taken disciplinary action and will consider any further steps when the full facts of this incident have been established.”
Speaking about the Yarra Valley Grammar incident earlier this week, Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said the display of sexism demonstrated the need for better respectful relationship courses in schools.
“It is disgusting and appalling, I’m glad that the students have been suspended,” Mr Clare said on Monday.
“It demonstrates that there is still a lot more work to do, it’s a job not just for schools, but for parents and political leaders like me as well. Part of that is providing funding to schools right across the country for respectful relationship courses and consent courses. I’m signing agreements with all states and territories at the moment to do that, and that’s about $77 million that will roll out across the country.”