PROTESTORS clad in scanty underwear again taken to the streets of Dublin city centre in protest after a rape trial during which a defence lawyer made a comment which critics said partially blamed the attack on the teenage victim’s choice of lingerie. The protests are a follow-up to similar demonstrations in the Irish capital last week organised by feminist group, during which those taking part held up underwear and placards reading “Stop blaming victims in courts” and chanted “Stop blaming victims in courts. On the latest occasion, protestors went one further, stripping down and painting similar slogans on their skin, including “this is not consent” and “I’m not asking for it”.
The case in question was heard in County Cork, with the senior counsel Elizabeth O’Connell suggesting the 17-year-old complainant’s underwear might have been a factor in the attack.
Addressing the jury of eight men and four women at the Central Criminal Court, she said: “Does the evidence rule out the possibility that she was attracted to the defendant and was open to meeting someone and being with someone?
“You have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front.”
Her thong was then passed around the courtroom.
The 27-year-old man accused of the attack was subsequently acquitted.
The case prompted one Irish MP to hold up a similar garment in the Irish Parliament to highlight what she called “routine-victim blaming”.
Holding up a pair of frilly knickers in the Irish Dáil, or Parliament, minister Ruth Coppinger asked lawmakers: “Why is nothing yet being done to stop the routine use of rape myths in trials, and how concerned is this Government about the chilling effect this is having on victims coming forward?
“It might seem embarrassing to show a pair of thongs here in this incongruous of the Dáil.
“But the reason I’m doing it: how do you think a woman feels at the incongruous setting of her underwear being shown in a court?
‘How heroic do you have to be to pursue a rape trial in this country?’
Tweeting afterward, she added: “I hear cameras cut away from me when I displayed this underwear in Dáil.
“In courts victims can have their underwear passed around as evidence and it’s within the rules, hence need to display in Dáil. #ThisIsNotConsent.”
The protests began on a private Facebook group called Mna na hEireann – meaning Women of Ireland – after the conclusion of the case.
Dozens of women have now shared underwear pictures of their underwear online under the hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent to express solidarity with the teenager in Cork and protest against the verdict.
Sarah O’Sullivan tweeted: “So just because I prefer to wear a certain type of underwear because they’re comfier means I’m looking to be raped? This country is an absolute joke.”
Ruby added: “Making a rape victim hold up their underwear in court as a piece of evidence is insanity. when are we gonna stop blaming the victim and start blaming monsters who do such things”
Zoe Daly Burke posted: “A girls underwear has nothing to do with consent.
“A woman can have sex after wearing: lace thongs, men’s boxers, swimsuits, satin briefs, granny knickers.
“Which type a woman wears at any time has nothing to do with her sexual intentions.”
Leanne said: “Can shops start to advertise “Rape” and “Non rape” underwear please?
“I need to know what I’m signing up for when I pick up some underwear.
“Wouldn’t want to contribute to a man’s right to rape me now, would I?”