Student campaign group ‘Cambridge For Consent’ is harnessing the power of University of Cambridge sport to launch a project to tackle the narrative of US Presidential nominee Donald Trump – that lewd comments about non-consensual sexual behaviour can be dismissed as mere ‘locker room talk’.

The University-wide campaign – which has as its stated aim the celebration and promotion of sexual consent in Cambridge – is seeking to collaborate with a vast number of Cambridge University sports societies to build a campaign of awareness and the demonstration of solidarity as bystanders.

In an email sent around to the captains of teams from across the University sporting world, the President of Cambridge For Consent, Pippa Goodman, outlined the fundamentals of the project: “What we are asking from sports clubs is a very straightforward gesture... to take a photo with your team over the next week with a sign saying ‘Call Time On “Locker-Room Talk”’ and send it over.” The photos will be used on the campaign’s Facebook page.

It is hoped by the project’s organisers that, as the sports teams respond, a collection of all the team photos will feature alongside many similar pictures from participating teams and that, by amalgamating as many participants as possible, this will be an effective way of reaching a large audience.

In her email, which she forwarded to Varsity, Goodman stressed that the project would be delighted to use photos from sports teams “at both college and University levels, and of any gender.”

The project has as its origins a desire to disprove claims made by Trump, the controversial Republican nominee for the upcoming US presidential election, that comments from a leaked tape in which the former businessman and reality TV star appeared to boast about engaging in non-consensual sexual behaviour could be shrugged off as ‘locker-room talk.’

Using the phrase is this manner is something that Cambridge For Consent reject, with Goodman writing that the project aims “to demonstrate our solidarity in saying that this is not normal ‘lad behaviour’, and it is certainly not something that we condone within the Cambridge sports scene.”

Goodman was keen to emphasise that the project was not part of an accusation that comments akin to Trump’s were “typical behaviour in sports societies”. Instead, she described the project as “merely a platform to contest general remarks made that, we as a society, feel are unacceptable but highly relevant in current affairs” and “a great opportunity for sports societies to contest this negative perception.”

Varsity spoke to a number of sporting captains to get their views on the campaign, with the reception overwhelming positive. 

Captain of the Cambridge University Canoe Club, Jon Wall, explained that “the ‘locker-room talk’ Donald Trump comes out with isn’t something we recognise at CUCC.”

“As a combined men’s and women’s club,” he said, “with men’s and women’s teams that train together regularly, sexism and discussion of sexual violence clearly have no place at the club – or, for that matter, anywhere else. This is a campaign that CUCC are happy to support and we hope as many sports teams as possible get involved.”

Ben Beltrami, captain of the Cambridge University Rugby Fives Club, concurred, noting that his team were “very pleased to support and be involved in this important campaign,” while Alice MacLeod, skipper of the Selwyn College Mixed Lacrosse Team, told Varsity that: “as a mixed sports team, Selwyn lacrosse is especially keen to support this campaign. Sexist beliefs of this kind are extremely damaging to both men and women and the idea that such abhorrent comments can be dismissed as typical of sports ‘banter’ is extremely worrying and it is vital is make sure that such throw-away comments are shown to be far from acceptable.”

This was a sentiment also shared by Captain of the Cambridge University Diving Team, Danny Christie, who told Varsity that "the diving team whole-heartedly supports this campaign. Although I have personally never experienced this 'locker room chat', I believe sport is a good way to promote the campaign against the trivialisation of sexual assault, as sports are so readily available to young people, especially here at the University."

This project is just one of a number of similar schemes that Cambridge For Consent has implemented in an attempt to “raise the issue of consent as loudly and as tirelessly as we can”, with all their activities aiming to “go some way to reducing the number of sexual assaults in the area.” Their website outlines a list of contacts and organisation through which people who have been affected by sexual assault can get advice and support on how to come to terms with, and report the incident. 

They also aim to raise awareness that “consent applies in every sort of sexual encounter” and that everyone has different boundaries around sexual consent to the extent that “these boundaries must be discussed as part of an ongoing and informed discussion.”

“Comments that publically trivialise sexual assaults are obviously antithetical to the ethos of Cambridge for Consent,” Goodman told Varsity, “which takes any form of non-consensual behaviour seriously and listens to the voices of survivors without fear of belittling their experiences. As a society, we believe it is our duty to confront these flippant comments head on, as they underpin a larger narrative that risks normalising a culture of degrading sexual humour and even a culture of rape.”

The “Locker Room Talk” Project is hoping to receive photos from teams of any gender who play any sport in Cambridge at any level. Interested participants should send photos of their team holding a sign saying “Call Time On ‘Locker-Room Talk’” to Cambridge For Consent at cambridgeforconsent@gmail.com, with details of their team, including the sport and the college (if applicable)