An Australian pub has apologised after hanging lewd sexist banners from its balcony to promote its upcoming New Year’s Eve “frat party”.
The Brass Monkey Hotel in Perth pinned up a variety of suggestive and grammatically incorrect messages including “Our couch pulls out. But we dont [sic]” and “You teach her morals, we’ll teach her oral”.
The venue has since posted two apologetic messages on its Facebook page after a barrage of criticism and abuse.
The night’s headline DJ has since pulled out, but the event, billed as something “sure to anger the neighbours”, will still go ahead.
A statement from the bar read: “We unreservedly apologise for the totally inappropriate messages placed on the outside of the Brass Monkey Hotel. The words used were offensive and harmful and the messages were utterly unacceptable under any circumstances. This does not reflect the values of the hotel and we have taken appropriate action to both educate the staff and to ensure this will never happen again.”
A message posted the day previous by the hotel was slightly more moderate, reading: “The team … would like to apologise to anyone affected by these messages.”
DJ Joel Fletcher posted on Facebook: “I refuse to perform at the Brass Monkey tomorrow night. As I said previously, I don’t condone what they have done.”
One Facebook user has written: “Ladies, please watch your drinks all night and stick together if you choose to attend.
Another wrote: “You thought it was acceptable to promote that frat parties and rape culture go hand in hand.”
The use of the banners mirrors those hung outside a house near Old Dominion University in Virginia in the US in August last year, which resulted in the suspension of the Sigma Nu Fraternity.
It follows a wave of unrelenting reports of a university and campus-based culture of sexual assault and rape.
A 2015 survey of 150,000 students across 27 schools found that more than 20 per cent of females and 5 per cent of males said they were victims of non-consensual sexual contact.
In a separate UK survey, 95 per cent of 5,000 females said they had been groped while on a night out, and 77 per cent said the issue is "plaguing" universities.
One neighbouring bar of the Brass Monkey Hotel took the opportunity to mock its rival.
The Mechanics’ Institute wrote: “We normally don’t like to comment on other bars and their doings. But we thought we should hang our banner in contrast to the stupidity across the road.”
The message simply read: “Women are amazing.”
When The Independent telephoned the Brass Monkey for comment, a woman answered: "No comment."
