Media exploits Oxford student suicide to push sexist victim-blaming

November 15, 2024 –
From Socialist Worker (UK)

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The University of Oxford

Victim blaming is a constant feature of media reports of sexual misconduct—but it was taken to new heights this week. The media is blaming a young female student at Oxford for the suicide of a male student.

The Daily Mail newspaper rushed to point the finger, reporting that Alexander Rogers killed himself because he was “cancelled” by the young woman’s friends. Now the BBC has reported that the suicide was a result of “cancel culture”.

Right wing rags such Spiked are exploiting Alexander’s suicide to pursue their attack on women’s rights. “Accusations of sexually inappropriate behaviour from women now have the power to condemn and turn individuals into pariahs,” it complains.

These reports feed the idea that women cry rape for no reason, that women ruin men’s lives with false accusations, and that campuses are dominated by “wokeism”. They show zero concern for the well-being of the young woman at the centre of the storm.

Alexander Rogers, a 20-year-old student at Oxford, killed himself in January. The inquest into this death took place last week.

Alexander had gone to the pub with a group of friends. He went back to the room of a female student, known as B. They had sex. Over the next few days, B told her friends the encounter had made her uncomfortable.

Some of B’s friends distanced themselves from Alexander. They told him that they needed some space and would check back in with him in a couple of weeks.

The inquest became a platform for political attacks on students who want to support women. A GP told the inquest of a “concerning culture of social ostracism” among students. The coroner told the inquest that Alexander had been the victim of a “pervasive cancel culture”.

The coroner has written to the Department of Education with the ludicrous demand that steps be taken to stop students shunning people they think have behaved badly.

The coroner chose to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths notice. Such notices usually recommend practical measures to make life safer for people—such as higher fences, wearing life jackets or improving road signs. But this notice targeted the “cancel culture” in universities.

Male doctors take an oath to protect female doctors

Striking back for women and liberation

Do they expect women’s friends to ignore their concerns, to not take their experiences seriously, to not believe them? Do they want universities to legislate that students must be friends with people whose behaviour they don’t like?

Coroner Nicholas Graham has presided over many inquests. Ten years ago, he presided over an inquest in the suicide of Charlotte Coursier, another Oxford student.

Charlotte suffered from depression and killed herself after being harassed by her former lecturer. Graham did not issue a prevention of death notice in Charlotte’s case.

All suicides are complex and painful for all those involved. It is outrageous that right wing misogynistic culture warriors are exploiting this tragedy. They are deliberately feeding the idea that women’s rights to stand up to sexual harassment have gone too far since the #MeToo movement.