This is a petition proposed by Zoe Cantley and Stevie Rankin on behalf of the students of QMUL.

In keeping with several UK universities and a statement released by NUS Women's officers (copied below), we (Stevie Rankin, women's officer; Zoe Cantley, feminist activist) would like to present a petition to the QM student body to ban 'Blurred Lines' from being played in Union venues.

NUS (Kelley Temple NUS National Women’s Officer; Rhiannon Hedge NUS Wales Women’s Officer; Stacey Devine NUS Scotland Women’s Officer; Aisling Gallagher NUS USI Women’s Officer) statement on 'Blurred Lines':

“Over the last few weeks the lyrics of the Robin Thicke track “Blurred Lines” have been propelled into the limelight. First EUSA (Edinburgh University Students’ Association) and subsequently many other Students’ Unions have chosen not to play the song on their premises, in line with their values as organisations opposed to sexism.

We, as the Women’s Officers of NUS across the UK and the Nations, would like to make our position clear.  We consider “Blurred Lines” to be deeply offensive and dangerous.  The idea that consent is a ‘blurry’ concept is outrageous. It reinforces the shameful way sexual assault is often represented in the media and wider popular culture.

We applaud Edinburgh, Derby, University West of Scotland, Leeds and all the other Students’ Unions that have taken this brave step and encourage others to do the same. Some have even asked for the song to be replaced with on-message alternatives, like the above. This small action will make a big difference to challenging a culture that should not exist in our lifetime.

The truth is, that there are many songs out there like “Blurred Lines” and most of the time there is very little challenge to the normalized sexism in the lyrics in music of many genres. 

However, challenging the sexism in these chart songs and exposing them for what they are allows us to have the debates where we establish that consent is key and the trivialization of rape is not acceptable.

We want to see a society that recognizes “no means no,” that doesn’t engage in victim blaming and doesn’t think that rape is a “blurry” concept.

Consent has no blurred lines.”

In response to the Hidden Marks report of 2010 which found that almost 7 in 10 women experienced sexual harassment in college or at university, NUS launched a Zero Tolerance Accreditation campaign. And did you know that QMSU is /not/ a zero tolerance accredited union? That means, more or less, that your union does not currently (formally) condemn sexism and harassment in their venues. We believe that one of the many steps necessary towards becoming a Zero Tolerance union, and making our campus a safe space for women, is by ending that which excuses (and dare I say, encourages) rape culture. You may have heard how British universities have begun-- and are winning-- their campaigns to remove Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines' from their unions' playlists. There are no blurred lines; there is only one line, and that lies between consensual and non-consensual acts. A tip from one of the many parodies of the song now in existence is to 'Ask First'. In one particular rendition by Kaleigh Trace and J. Mary Burnet they sing, to the same beat as Mr. Thicke, "No way to know I want it, unless I say I want it. Ask first, consent is sexy, shows you respect me." (View it here: http://vimeo.com/70304632). Whilst I'm ecstatic that such cool creatures exist, I'm still deeply dismayed by the seeming omnipresence of 'Blurred Lines' in our Union. Not only is it offensive to all women, it also carries the potential of triggering individuals who have personally experienced sexual harassment, and that is not something that any student, male- or female- or otherwise identified, should allow. Whilst I recognise that there is a plethora of sexist music, especially recently-- some of which continues to be played at union events-- there are none played so perpetually and with such a sweeping sense of entitlement over women's bodies (can you think of another No. 1 song like it that gets played at midday in QMotion?) Zoe and I would like to invite you to join our campaign and sign our petition to remove 'Blurred Lines' from our union, for it stands in principle as the beginning of some very necessary changes and advances towards equality and zero-tolerance status on our campus. And hey, if you like Thicke's beat too much, you can always play the parody instead.

Please sign this petition to show your support, and email Stevie Rankin, women's officer, if you have any questions at le11061@qmul.ac.uk.

We plan to put forward a motion to council on November 26th (motion deadline November 19th). All are welcome to attend to show their support.