Women from Ireland have began protesting with the hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent after a barrister in a recent rape trail claimed the victim was asking for sex because of the underwear she wore.<\/p>\n
In her closing statement of the trial, senior counsel Elizabeth O\u2019Connell said: \u201cDoes the evidence out-rule 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,\u201d<\/p>\n
The jury, made up of eight men and four women, found the 27 year old defendant not guilty of raping the 17 year old girl at the Central Criminal Court in Cork.<\/p>\n
The statement made by O\u2019Connell alongside the verdict has caused an uproar with Irish women and has fuelled an online protest \u2018#ThisIsNotConsent\u2019 where women from all over the world are posting pictures of their underwear alongside the hashtag. The aim of this protest is to emphasise the point that what women choose to wear does not provide men with sexual consent.<\/p>\n
The hashtag itself was created by a closed Facebook group, Mn\u00e1 na hEireann (Women of Ireland), but was made public by Susan Dillon, who runs the Twitter account I Believe Her, in Ireland.<\/p>\n
Dillon said: \u201cOne of the women in the group was angry at the comments made, as we all were.<\/p>\n
Irrespective of the other evidence\u2026 no item of the complainant\u2019s clothing implied consent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nCounsel for man acquitted of rape suggested jurors should reflect on underwear worn by the 17yo complainant. Following this wholly unacceptable comment, we are calling on our followers to post a picture of their thongs\/knickers to support her with the hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ZkVU0GVAIN<\/a><\/p>\n
\t\u2014 I Believe Her – Ireland (@ibelieveher_ire) November 10, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n