... third-year journalism student, Vicky Chandler.
Vicky wins the award for her successful campaign to have a gig at her university by Dapper Laughs, the comic alter-ego of comedian Daniel O'Reilly, cancelled on the grounds that his act infringed upon the university's own policies concerning the right of students and staff to live and work in an environment free of all forms of discrimination and free from any form of violence or bullying - including incitement to hatred.
O'Reilly first came to fame via social media by posting six-second videos in which he, amongst other things, ridiculed rape victims and glorified sexual abuse. He quickly built up a large (mostly male) following and, impressed by the numbers and his "risqué brand of humour", he was offered his own prime time dating show on ITV2 in September of this year entitled Dapper Laughs: On the Pull. The theme of the show was essentially how to fuck (and humiliate) women, all of whom, apparently, were gagging for it.
However, after Vicky's campaign against O'Reilly was picked up by the national news media, an online petition was launched urging ITV to pull the plug on his show. This they duly did in November, by which time the petition had gained almost 70,000 signatures. A forthcoming Dapper Laughs live tour was also cancelled.
To be fair to O'Reilly, he did go on Newsnight and apologise to Emily Maitlis for causing offence and being such a prick; indeed, he even announced his intention to immediately kill off the character of Dapper Laughs. This, however, hasn't stopped many of his fans and followers from continuing to direct vile and threatening abuse towards Ms Chandler.
She, for her part, accepts that whilst O'Reilly has played a significant role in encouraging such behaviour, he too is basically just a symptom (one might even say a victim) of what is known as rape culture (i.e. a culture in which rape is pervasive and has been normalized or made in some manner acceptable, on the back of received ideas and socially reinforced attitudes about gender, sexuality, and power).
There can, I think, be saucy innuendo and affectionate teasing between the sexes; but sexism is never innocent and laddism, unfortunately, is never more than a couple of lagers away from something far more sinister.
