Daphne Maia

Why are uni camps still so risque? 

A netizen recently expressed concern over what he deemed ‘sexually suggestive’ photos taken at an orientation camp.

In an email to Singapore’s citizen journalism website, STOMP, he claimed that he chanced upon the pictures online, which he said were taken during an orientation camp at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

One of the photos showed a girl bending forward to eat a banana, placed suggestively over a standing male student’s denim-clad crotch area.

Read these too: » Orientation too 'sexually suggestive'? » Orientation - Just fun or plain lewd? » From fun to sleaze

According to the contributor, such actions will “make our young think that sex is a very open thing”.

He called the actions “totally unacceptable”, and continued: "Imagine knowing that your daughter is doing such things to guys in school.

"The shame that she will bring to the family."

All freshman orientation camps are screened: NTU

In a reply to STOMP over the photo, an NTU spokesperson said all orientation camps are screened and organisers are asked to remove any inappropriate activities.

According to the spokesperson, activities which "cause embarassment or loss of dignity or well-being to another student" - also known as "ragging" - are considered an offence.

He said NTU will be meeting with the student organisers to investigating the matter. 

Lewd acts committed at orientation camps

Reports of 'lewd acts' being carried out at university orientation camps are not new.

A Straits Times report last year revealed that freshmen at the National University of Singapore (NUS) were not spared either. 

According to a female student who was interviewed, "girls had to lie down and the guys had to do push-ups over them" during one activity.

While some students deem such physical acts are "no big deal", others condemn these sexually-charged activities.

Universities contacted however, say "they put a firm foot down on any demeaning activities" conducted.

However, why do orientation camp organisers still continue with such risque themes despite repeated warnings? 

I've always been against ragging - it achieves nothing but anger, embarrassment, and discomfort amongst those who are on the receiving end of this negative attention. Still, it goes on.

I remember in my university days, I actually walked out on one of the orientation camps' activities in a Hall of Residence, which required us to roll around on a grass field that was intentionally covered with mud and smelly slimy unknowns (I suspect it was fish / chicken innards, as it smelt foul).

I did it - I did what the seniors asked of me. But I also walked off immediately after, refusing to participate in any further activities that the seniors had lined up for the night. How I wish I had mustered the courage earlier to say NO.

Why should I subject myself to such torture (and the camp fee was about $50 per freshman)? I paid money to have fun, get to know and bond with fellow freshmen living in the same hall of residence, not to torture or embarrass myself.

Today, I read the above article on AsiaOne, and felt enraged. In one orientation camp activity described in the article, a girl was made to eat a banana that was placed suggestively over a standing male's crotch area.

So the latest form of raging is to demean girls, and to cheapen them? What do the orientation participants get out of this? The memory of Girl A pretending to give Boy B a blowjob?

While it may look like I'm a prude, I'd like to clarify that it is not the notion of encouraging sex between youth of today that unsettles me, nor is it that I think oral sex should be disallowed. Rather, it is how people intentionally demean girls and cheapen them, and how girls allow themselves to be treated this way, that angers me.

I really hope that young female university orientation participants can stand up for themselves and say NO to requests of performing such acts in front of a huge crowd. You are not a monkey in the circus. I also hope that female seniors who are part of the orientation organizing committee will look out for juniors who are being "ragged" in such inappropriate ways, and put a stop to it.

There is no reason for you to give in to them. Be daring. Say NO, and walk away.