Women in Ireland have stripped down to their underwear as they continue their protests – after a teenager’s thong was used to clear a man in a rape trial.
It follows widespread outrage earlier this month when a defence barrister in a rape trial suggested the jury should consider the 17-year-old accuser’s “thong with a lace front” on the night of the incident.
The case in County Cork, in which the 27-year-old man was acquitted, was brought to wider attention last week when MP Ruth Coppinger held up a thong in Ireland’s parliament to show her anger with the handling of rape cases.
She said: “It might seem embarrassing to show a pair of thongs here… how do you think a rape victim or a woman feels at the incongruous setting of her underwear being shown in a court?”
Women across the world started sharing pictures of their underwear on social media using the hashtag: #ThisIsNotConsent.
Lacy underwear was strung from the Spire on Dublin’s O’Connell Street and laid on the steps of the courthouse in Cork.
Protests have continued today as women walked down Dublin’s Grafton Street in their underwear in support of victims of sexual violence.
Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said the government should examine how alleged victims of rape were treated during trials.
He said: “Let there be no doubt that nobody asks to be raped and it is never the fault of the victim.
“It doesn’t matter what someone wears, where someone went, who they went with or whether they took drugs or alcohol.