University bans 'vicars and tarts' parties to better protect non-binary students

One of Britain's most prestigious institutions, the University of Oxford, has announced a crackdown on several student parties it has deemed "problematic" in an effort to better support non-binary students.

The university's student union issued guidelines last Saturday around various fancy-dress functions, such as "vicars and tarts", "pimps and hoes" and other "highly gendered" parties.

Moreover, the body explained that such parties stereotype people into highly sexualised roles that may exclude non-binary folks, while cautioning students to dress in drag "sensitively", the Telegraph reported.

Fox hunting and 'pimps and hoes' party themes prohibited by Oxford University Student Union. 

The guidance, called Inclusive Practise for Events, are "loose" and work to ensure "events are inclusive and don't offend anyone", a student union spokesperson said.

In an online leaflet seen by the outlet, the guidelines laser in on several party themes that could be seen as mocking ethnic minority students or excluding those who identify outside the gender binary.

"This advice does not seek to repress student self-expression through the clothing they choose to wear but is here to help everyone feel able to have a good time," the guidelines read.

"Entz events with highly gendered themes are a welfare issue because there is usually an implicit or explicit gender divide. And for anyone who does not identify with traditional binary gender roles, this may be problematic."Often such themes will stereotype men and women in a highly objectified and/or sexualised role (e.g. vicars and tarts, pimps and hoes, fox hunts).
Attendees shouldn't seek to dress as another gender for the purposes of ridicule or to make light of the experiences of people of that gender."However, students should not be restricted from dressing in drag in a way which expresses themselves or to demonstrate admiration for individuals."If handled sensitively, themes that involve drag have the potential to be friendly and positive for all students."It continued: "Cultural appropriation is defined as an act by which a member of a dominant culture uses the clothing, traditions, aesthetic customs or other cultural markers of a marginalised culture to their own benefit, ignoring the history and context of these cultural markers and failing to give credit to their origins and proper use."In the last few years, education institutions across Britain have introduced measures to better protect LGBT+ students.

In 2019, the University of the West of England introduced a queer buddy accommodation scheme to "beat the sense of isolation" some students face.