Instructor let go from Ontario universities after misogynistic paper about dating students

A sessional lecturer who taught engineering classes at the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo is no longer affiliated with either institution after a paper written under his name on the topic of modern dating has incited outrage.

The non-peer-reviewed article — called On the Challenges of Dating and Marriage in the New Generations — detailed views that many are calling misogynistic and concerning, including assertions that feminism has "gotten out of control these days," that girls "enjoy" rejecting boys, and that teachers dating students isn't necessarily a bad thing.

It has since been removed from the site where it was originally published, though it can still be found online, and its subject matter (and reactions to it) is still being discussed on socials, especially on Reddit.

The 20-page diatribe many times refers to seeking a partner as "hunting," says women are "psychologically sadistic" for rejecting men, touches on "the change of behaviours of girls before and after immigration," and delves into "paradoxical signals from girls" that "make it extremely difficult for boys to find out the situation and plan accordingly for the next steps."

A sessional engineering lecturer has been fired from his work at both the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo for a misogynistic paper published in the instructor’s name, according to a report. https://t.co/8w12vRk5oy

— Riley/A Dog's Life (@adogslifeTO) March 22, 2024

Posts and comments from students who read the work have identified these statements and many others as among those that are most cause for concern — and there are a lot.

"A 30-year-old man describing adults as 'boys and girls' in a research paper on heterosexual relationships is already quite alarming," one student noted off the bat in a Reddit discussion about the controversy.

"Hunting? Girls? Boys? So gross. I hope he is fired. We don't need these attitudes in Canada, and certainly not in academia... I'm disgusted that this person is employed in a teaching position at Guelph... Just so gross and inappropriate. Ugh," another said.

One wrote that the paper "reads like an incel manifesto." Others expressed surprise and upset given that they knew the lecturer as "an amazing professor" who was very knowledgeable in his field of teaching, which is completely unrelated to the theme of the paper in question.

“suggests some boys become bisexual or homosexual due to being ignored by girls, and it makes race-based assumptions on the romantic preferences of immigrant women. It concludes by likening a man’s relationship pursuits to a game of Snakes & Ladders in which women are the snakes”

— Dr. Lindsay ‘.bsky.social’ Tedds 🇨🇦🇬🇧🇮🇪 (@LindsayTedds) March 22, 2024

Students have also shared emails online from U of Guelph saying that the lecturer "is currently not teaching" at the school, which came after a Star investigation on the matter last week. 

According to the latest update from the news outlet, the individual initially denied to reporters that he wrote the paper (despite it appearing online under his name), claimed he had mental health issues, and posted a video expressing his respect for people of all genders and sexual orientations, though failed to explicitly mention the article and the backlash against it.