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A Reminder: Wearing Lacy Underwear Isn’t Consenting

Outrage in Ireland after a teenage rape victim's underwear was used as evidence
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Women around the world are tweeting images of their underwear with the hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent in protest after a 27-year-old man in Ireland was acquitted of raping a 17-year-old girl because she was wearing a lacy G-string.

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In court, the accused rapist maintained that the sexual content he had with the girl in a laneway in Cork was consensual.

The teenage girl’s underwear was displayed as evidence during the trial, with the defence lawyer telling the jury: “You have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front.”

Let’s make this very clear: wearing a G-string is not consenting. Wearing a short skirt is not consenting. Walking down the street naked IS NOT CONSENTING.

https://twitter.com/consentproject/status/1062790720463880192
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The acquittal and victim blaming during the trial has ignited protests and rallies across Ireland, around the world, and online with the hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent.

In the Irish capital Dublin, G-strings were strung up on clotheslines throughout the city centre.

Irish MP, Ruth Coppinger, took the issue to parliament, holding up a lace G-string to highlight “routine victim blaming.”

“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 show in a court?”

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After her speech, Coppinger tweeted a photo of her underwear, saying, “I hear cameras cut away from me when I displayed this underwear in #Dail [parliament]. In courts victims can have their underwear passed around as evidence and it’s within the rules, hence need to display in Dail. Join protests tomorrow. In Dublin it’s at Spire, 1pm. #dubw #ThisIsNotConsent.”

Using a rape victim’s underwear as evidence in court is a heinous act victim blaming. A G-string is not an invitation to be raped.

The only person responsible for rape is a rapist. Not their victim’s underwear.

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