“Deeply Troubling and Misogynistic”

The experience of the St Andrean woman

Please be aware that this article contains references to sexual assault and rape. 

“I feel like this is a girl’s town,” one female student told me. In essence, she isn’t wrong —  women make up 60 per cent of the University's student population. Yet, in spite of this, I’ve found that in my conversations with women in town, the 3:2 ratio is hardly representative of St Andrews’ feminist prowess.

To its credit, the University boasts an overwhelming collection of female-run societies. The Student Association website lists four ‘women in’ societies (focussing on female representation in male-dominated fields), Women for Women, and Feminist Society, not to mention those which are not affiliated, like HerCampus, the Lumsden Club, and EmpowHer. Given all these societies, why do so many of the women I talked to still feel frustrated?

Representatives from some of these societies noted the lack of male involvement. Ines Tamarin, the President of EmpowHer, said some of her male friends feel uncomfortable “interfering” with the society’s women-centred space. “Not that it is an interference, but they would feel as though it is,” she said. “Just because you're painting a pot doesn't mean you're interfering with women's lives.’” 

Some wondered if the names of their societies deter male students. “I don't know if I'll ever be able to convince lots of guys to join Women for Women,” said the society’s President Victoria Olavesen-Sabb. “Realistically, [I will not], because we'd have to change our name.” She told me some students ask, if the society aims for cross-gender equality, “Why is it not People for Women instead?” 

Rhiannon Peacock, Editor-in-Chief of HerCampus, meets the same queries; she figures most of the other societies do, too: “I feel like [EmpowHer] often get[s] asked, ‘What about Empower Him?”

Most of the representatives attributed this mindset to some of the negative perceptions of their respective societies. Peacock told me she’d “heard some things”. When she tells her friends about HerCampus, they often ask, “Isn’t it really cliquey?” 

Jacinta Guelfi, President of the Lumsden Club, had the same experience. “I know people say, ‘Oh, you’re in Lumsden,’” she said, “but [...] I’m so used to it that I barely notice it anymore.” She was well aware that Lumsden’s competitive recruitment process has made for its notable ‘exclusivity’. She pointed out, however, that Kate Kennedy and Carnegie operate similarly. She wondered if they were cut a “bit more slack” because they accept male students: “Maybe [...] having men [...] validates the grouping.” 

Olavesen-Sabb was also sceptical of this negativity. Why were female-run societies ‘controversial’ if all they did was “put events on and [raise] money”? “Isn't that what every society does?” she asked.

Some of them felt that students thought their societies were in competition with one another. They assured me that this was not the case. Many of Women for Women’s committee members belong to the other female-oriented societies in town, Olavesen-Sabb said. Many of the societies even often collaborate. “If there was a rivalry, it [...] would completely just undo everything that we are trying to do,” said Amy Hyslop, co-President of Feminist Society. 

Hyslop, however, cautions female students to avoid getting stuck in “a bubble within the bubble” — especially those in female-dominated subjects. “I do Art History and French,” she told me, “and, [in] both of those, I maybe have two guys in a class of, like, twelve girls.” She admitted that, because of this, she often forgets the gender divide present in STEM subjects. 

Computer Science consists of 27.3 per cent women, making it the most male-dominated subject in St Andrews second only to Hebrew. Two students —dubbed Ally and Jane for anonymity — assured me that, while the University is supportive of the subject’s female students, they still find some aspects daunting. 

Ally is one of two women in a twenty-person group project. She told me she still feels the “need to prove myself to [my male peers]”. Jane shared that, in her group project, even though one male student was reported for degrading comments he had made to his female counterparts, he is “still allowed to lead the project”. I asked why nothing had been done in spite of this. “Because he is good at coding”, she replied. 

While humanities subjects are more female-dominated, these students still face challenges. One humanities student, who I will refer to as Catherine, told me about how, in the throes of a discussion with her male peers, she felt unable to take part: “Some of the things they were saying, I feel like my more feminine [...] branch of knowledge just didn't conform to.” 

Experiences like these have laid the groundwork for Catherine’s anonymous Instagram account, @monthlycycle.sta, which compiles the submissions of St Andrews students — mostly those of women. These include poems, short stories, and, most noteworthy, the overheard statements of some of the University’s male student body. Some are light-hearted; others are much darker. “When I look at you all I see is a mouth for my d**k,” reads one; “I had a dream where I raped you,” reads another.  

The shock-factor of this content is not exclusive to Monthly Cycle. The similarly formatted account @overheardrews pinned a post in September whose content, it clarified, was “not for any comedic value”. In St Salvator’s Hall, someone was overheard boasting about a “competition” for “who could sleep with the most impoverished female”.  

“When you collate things that men have said to the women of this town, [...] you aren’t staring at something that seeks to entertain but rather a deeply, deeply troubling and misogynistic current,” Monthly Cycle wrote to me in an email. 

Catherine was aware that male students may not react well to Monthly Cycle, given the inflammatory nature of some of its posts — she didn't seem to care, though. “Some of them can find it and be offended [...] some of them can find it and maybe it’ll provoke thought, but I am actually so sick of caring about men,” she laughed. 

I asked both Hyslop and her co-President Jillian McLeod if they thought St Andrews was a safe place for women. McLeod hesitated; in some ways, she was pleased with the environment in town. “I don't want to use the word grateful,” she began. Hyslop corrected her, “You shouldn’t have to be grateful.”

Dr Rosa Campbell, a lecturer in the School of English, mirrored McLeod’s uncertainty. She noted that the University’s support system was “stretched”: “It's understaffed, it's underfunded, and it has its limits.”  

Hyslop also described the larger culture in town as one which “can be really hostile”. “I think as much as I feel really safe in St Andrews, [...] there's a lot of problems,” she told me. 

Five years ago, the Kate Kennedy Club found itself immersed in scandal due to a series of allegations submitted anonymously to the Instagram account @standrewssurvivors, and in December 2024, the University held a meeting to discuss stripping author Neil Gaiman of his honorary doctorate in light of sexual assault allegations — one of which was from a female student. 

I wondered how this could change; McLeod said it begins with putting more of the onus on male students. “Men are not simple creatures,” she said. “We're all highly intelligent and capable human beings.”

I asked Catherine what she wanted to say to the men in this town — even if under a pseudonym. “Just calm down and listen,” she replied. “Let the defensives go for a minute, and just [...] listen.” 

Illustration by Vera Kaganskaya