A series of protests over sexual consent are planned in Ireland, a week after a man was acquitted of raping a 17-year-old.<\/p>\n
In the trial, the defence lawyer told the jury: “You have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front.”<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old man was found not guilty of rape shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n
The controversy led one Irish MP to hold up a lace thong in parliament to highlight “routine victim-blaming”.<\/p>\n
Ruth Coppinger produced the blue lacy underwear in the D\u00e1il (Irish parliament) from her sleeve on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“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?”<\/p>\n
The case, in which the man was cleared of rape, was originally reported by the Irish Examiner newspaper<\/a>\u00a0on 6 November.<\/p>\n The accused maintained that the sexual contact between him and the girl, which took place in a laneway in Cork, had been consensual.<\/p>\n Details of the closing argument presented by his senior counsel Elizabeth O’Connell, however, attracted widespread attention and prompted a series of online protest movements.<\/p>\n “Does the evidence out-rule the possibility that she was attracted to the defendant and was open to meeting someone and being with someone?” she asked, according to the Examiner’s report.<\/p>\n “You have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front.”<\/p>\n The day after the publication of that court report,\u00a0the head of Dublin’s Rape Crisis Centre criticised the barrister’s remarks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although she did not question the verdict, she called for reform of a legal system in which she said such suggestions were frequently made.<\/p>\n Amid increasing media attention, Irish social media users expressed their outrage at the remarks in court.<\/p>\n Under the hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent, Irish women posted photographs of their underwear in all shapes, colours, and materials to protest the use of such techniques in court.<\/p>\n Many pointed to other countries which have tighter controls on what can be introduced in rape trials, and in what manner the jury can consider them.<\/p>\n After producing lacy underwear in Ireland’s national parliament, Ms Coppinger told one supporter that compulsory training should be introduced for both judges and jurors.<\/p>\n The controversy surrounding the trial has echoes of a case earlier this year in which two high-profile rugby players were cleared of rape in Northern Ireland. Details that emerged in the trial caused a wider controversy in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.<\/p>\n Protests are planned in a number of cities, including the capital.<\/p>\n Socialist feminist group Rosa, which promoted the gatherings on social media, called the rallies “end victim-blaming in the courts”.<\/p>\n Supporters were due to gather at the Spire of Dublin landmark for a lunchtime protest at 13:00.<\/p>\n In Cork, where the trial took place, a protest was also planned on the city’s main commercial street.<\/p>\n Further protests were set to take place in the western city of Limerick and Waterford in the south-east.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How did the protests emerge?<\/h2>\n
Where are the protests?<\/h2>\n