The fallout over an article in a tabloid magazine ranking colleges according to the promiscuity of their female students after drinking intensified Wednesday, with all institutions named in the article accusing the publication of sexism.
The criticism from the universities follows growing anger and frustration over the Dec. 25 issue of the weekly magazine Spa!, which listed five colleges as having female students who were "sexually easy" at drinking parties. The article, based on an interview with a matching site organizer, gained widespread attention after prominent Japanese-British artist Sputniko! urged her Twitter followers to sign an online petition calling for the magazine to publicly apologize and recant the story. More than 40,000 people had signed the online petition as of Wednesday evening.
"We express our profound alarm over the article's misogynistic content," Chuo University said in a statement. "We demand the publisher take seriously the fact that the article impairs the dignity and threatens the safety of not only female students in our university but also young people in general."