Young women: we would so draw penises in the grass
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Young women say they certainly would would draw large penises in the grass as a prank, contradicting the assumptions of Nelson College's headmaster.
Weedkiller has been used to etch a series of large penises into the grass embankment at Nelson College, which is a boys' school.
There has been speculation the effort might be the work of students from Nelson College for Girls, responding to the activities of some students from the boys' school a year ago.
But Nelson College headmaster Gary O'Shea expressed doubts girls would do such a thing.
'I think girls would do something a bit more sophisticated,' he said.
'Boys will spray weedkiller in the shape of a penis but I don't think girls will.'
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**[* Penis probably not a Nelson College boy's art, headmaster says
](http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/74837928/penis-probably-not-a-nelson-college-boys-principal-says.html)* [College girls not involved in Nelson boys' school penis prank, principal says
](http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/74874038/college-girls-not-involved-in-nelson-boys-school-penis-prank-principal-says)* Penis shapes in the grass - another weak student prank, but sometimes they work**
Stories about the damage to the grass have been commented on more than 1000 times on the Stuff Facebook page.
And some have expressed that it's rather sexist to assume girls would not partake in such 'artistic' endeavours.
The comments include a number of comments from young women putting O'Shea straight, saying they would perpetrate such a prank.
'…you should see what's drawn on doors and walls in toilets in all girls high school then and tell me girls won't do this but boys will,' commented one woman.
'The principal is incorrect. I would 10/10 do this for a laugh. How is this harming anyone?' said another.
Dr Donna Swift, a social anthropologist based at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, said behaviours couldn't be separated by gender.
'That has been one of the assumptions, that girls are nicer and more gentle than boys, and that's not necessarily the case,' Swift, who has studied adolescent anti-social behaviour, said.
'One of the problems has been that people have said, 'a girl wouldn't do that', and yet when they catch a girl doing that behaviour, they reprimand her for both the breach of her gender etiquette as well as the behaviour.'
Some comments on the Facebook page have also cast doubt on O'Shea's suggestion that digging up and re-seeding the turf could cost several thousand dollars. But people in the lawn and grass industry in Nelson seem to be backing the headmaster.
Representatives of two companies both came up with a ballpark figure of around $2500 to fix the damage.
Grant Wall from Spray it Green Hydroseeding has had a look at the damage and said it was in a prominent spot.
Top soil would have to be brought in and some sort of irrigation system would have to be set up to keep the new grass watered, he said.
Graham Smith from Garden Property Services said the most important issue would be to find the right grass. If the wrong shade was chosen, even after it had grown, the penis shapes in the grass would still be visible.
The soil probably needed to be scraped away, as the weedkiller could affect the result, Smith said.
At this time of year, when new lawns needed to be watered four or five times a day, some sort of irrigation system with a timer would probably be needed.
O'Shea could not be reached for comment.