This paper provides insights into how laddism is understood, perpetuated, legitimated and challenged among undergraduates in two British universities. We explore the perceived benefits of subscribing to laddish masculinities, and also the costs of laddishness for male and female students in both student social life and teaching/learning environments. We discuss the ways that laddishness can be problematic for men as well as women, but argue that viewing laddishness as existing in a continuum of potential masculine subject positionings not only enables a more sophisticated understanding of laddishness, but also may suggest strategies through which more extreme laddism might be challenged.