It’s time to lay down the law after sexist students’ messages

IT is deflating to hear a group of future male solicitors have taken the time to degrade their female peers – and it’s clear shouting about equality still isn’t working.

In an email to students who have recently begun their training at the Law Society, the director of education said “highly offensive” content about their classmates had been circulated.

And it’s understood a Whatsapp group called T**s and Filth had a number of men rating and explicitly mocking the women they share lectures with.

To think that some of these people may end up sitting in a courtroom fighting for a woman who has been a victim of sexual harassment doesn’t sit well with me.

I can only imagine how uncomfortable the women discussed in those messages must feel, knowing they have to rub elbows with this pathetic bunch for a number of years.

And I can bet you it’ll be the women who will feel embarrassed if they have found out they received a bad review by a group of lads.

How degraded they must feel, knowing their colleagues decided to rate their looks instead of their wit or intelligence. But no, that’s not sexy it seems.

I hope those involved are ashamed and were kept awake at night wondering if their careers are at risk.

In fact, I think they should be thrown out. The announcement by the college that students will now take additional training classes doesn’t go far enough. Imagine, the place where future solicitors for the State are taught, now has to provide a group of people in their mid-tolate 20s additional course training.

Maybe Blackhall Place should introduce an end of year exam on “How Not To Disrespect Women.”

These trainee lawyers are at a stage in their lives where they’re old enough to know better.

Well, that’s what you’d think. These actions can’t be seen as a silly mistake anymore.

I can already hear the oceans of narrow-minded men reading this yelling, “It’s just a bit of banter”, but it’s clear that our society has learned very little from recent events.

In 2010, financial firm PWC suspended a number of their Dublin male employees for circulating an email which rated a batch of new female staff in their office.

The photos along with inappropriate remarks later went viral around the globe as the email was sent on to a number of other financial institutions. But here we are nearly 10 years later and very little has changed, in fact, things have gotten a lot worse.

The disgusting Whatsapp exchanges between a number of Ulster rugby players that were revealed during a high-profile Belfast rape trial, where they were cleared, must not have resonated with this crew. Did they turn a deaf ear to the public outrage?

And it’s a kick in the stomach to all of those out there shouting as loud as they can in a bid to educate others and get a grasp on societal inequalities.

But what more can we do? Should society take a more radical approach by naming and shaming the men who do this?

It may seem harsh but perhaps this will put a stop to other misogynistic Whatsapp groups and what is said in them.

Because it is clear from this case that society still has a long way to go before breaking the sexist mould.

These men are at a stage in life where they should know better