This post deals with child sexual abuse and sexual assault that could be triggering for some readers.
A number of additional New South Wales private schools have found themselves in muck-up day 'scavenger hunt' scandals, after Sydney's Shore School's 'Triwizard Shorenament' shone a light on the end-of-year celebrations.
The Shore list included 'sex with a 80kg+ woman', 'spit on homeless man' and 'catch a pigeon and proceed to rip its head off'.
This week, students at Sydney's exclusive Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College filmed themselves carrying out a series of points on their muck-up day lists and uploaded videos to TikTok.
Included in their list was pee in the aisle of a Woolworths and kissing strangers.
Up the road, Pymble Ladies' College's list included streaking, having sex with someone's dad, and various cocaine-related points.
Milson Point's St Aloysius' College Rector Father Ross Jones SJ sent a letter to Year 12 parents last Friday, saying it was "difficult to express the degree of disappointment I feel" after he discovered plans for the school's scavenger hunt.
"In particular, we have been made aware of an overnight competition that invites criminal, manifestly dangerous, and highly offensive behaviours (a number of which are acutely sexist in nature)," Father Jones wrote on September 18, a week before the planned event.
He said if any student engaged in the activities, the College would have no hesitation in contacting the police.
The scandals have not been confined to Sydney.
The Quicky goes inside Australia's private boys schools. Post continues below audio.
In Newcastle, a sexual abuse survivor was taunted by a group of schoolboys as part of Merewether High School's muck-up day pranks.
Students at the school were challenged to send an 18-year-old, who did not attend the school, messages "defending pedophiles" to score points.
The teen had confided in one of the boys that she had been abused from age four to 10. He betrayed her trust, turning her trauma into a challenge, the Daily Mail reported.
She received a Facebook message last week from one of the boys saying, "I really think paedophiles aren’t that bad".
"And why do you say that?" she replied.
"Because my uncle was one, and I think he's a good bloke? Is there anything bad about that?"
The girl's mother told the Daily Mail her daughter felt "humiliated and exposed" by the 'prank'.
"The boy who created the challenge, she confided in him. She thought he was her friend and instead he's turned her trauma into a joke," the mother said.
The daughter felt forced to publicly share her story on Facebook, despite not feeling ready.
Other challenges in the school's hunt included flicking a dog's testicles, filming sex acts and approaching new mother's to say their baby was "ugly".
Parenting author and host of Parental As Anything Maggie Dent told Mamamia's daily news podcast,The Quicky, muck-up days had been around for years, often involving poor decisions such as streaking, graffiti and burnouts.
But the current environment for teens - not exclusive to but especially boys - with phones at their fingertips and access to age-inappropriate porn, violent entertainment, etc, it "marinades" them into people who lack empathy and consider things, such as those on the Shore list, okay.
She said the privilege of many private school students fuelled these instances - where teens can dare each other to do illegal activities or get arrested, without fearing any long-term consequences or having a thought of how their actions could impact others.
To curb this behaviour, we need to prioritise and fund programs in schools that teach empathy and kindness.
"That really deconstructs things and helps to shift the mindset, because the adolescent brain is really easy to manipulate sadly," Dent explained.
At home, Dent said one of the most powerful things she'd seen was when a sister or female relative can explain to boys the personal impact and feelings they experience when men call them derogatory names or disrespect them.
With muck-up day lists like those leaked to media this year, we certainly need an entire cultural shift.
If this post brings up any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. It doesn’t matter where you live, they will take your call and, if need be, refer you to a service closer to home.
Read more:
- “We protect each other at all costs.” The full Shore School muck-up day list has been leaked.
- "Spit on homeless man." Buried in that vile muck up day checklist, is a sad grain of truth.
Feature image: TikTok/Shore School.
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