Lad culture is not popular. Only 21% of men and 13% of women consider themselves at all laddish – and even fewer like to be around men who are lads
Reacting to the groomed, aspirational yuppies of the 1980s, the ‘New lad’ is said to have replaced the ‘New man’ in the '90s; perhaps not coincidentally at the same time as Loaded magazine was born. But while the early years of lad culture were cheeky, self-aware and well received by the media, the tide seems to be turning against the phenomenon: the National Union of Students have called a summit on it, Nuts magazine has closed its doors and Loaded is dropping cover models.
A new YouGov survey finds that now only 2% of men consider themselves to be 'very laddish', and 19% 'somewhat laddish'; 1% of women consider themselves 'very laddish' and 12% 'somewhat laddish.'
Meanwhile, fewer 18-24 year olds (20%) think of themselves as laddy than the generation who came of age in the '90s (amongst whom the figure is 26%)
Perhaps most strikingly, very few people say they enjoy being around lads. In total, fewer people say they like the company of men who are lads (16% of men and 12% of women) than say they are laddish themselves, suggesting that even some lads aren’t sure if they enjoy being around their own kind.
The NUS summit is attempting to put an end to elements of the lad culture that still dominate universties. Websites such as uniLAD and The Lad Bible encourage users to rate women, while even universities hold freshers events involving tribal mentalities, and the use of semi-naked women to advertise them.
