Why women across the world are sharing underwear pics | Check

A social activist Ms Dillon started "I Believe Her - Ireland" Twitter page that came up with the 'This is not consent' hashtag.

Saima Siddiqui
Published on: 16 Nov 2018 11:27 AM GMT
Why women across the world are sharing underwear pics | Check
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Dublin: Women from all corners of the world are expressing their outrage on social media by sharing pictures of their underwear with the hashtag 'This is not consent'.

This online movement was started after a 27-year-old man was freed of rape charges against him after teen survivor's thong was used as an evidence in favor of him, here in Ireland.

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The criminal court in the city of Cork declared the accused "not guilty"of raping a 17-year-old, on November 6 after the rape trial.

The defendant's lawyer used the teenager's underwear in the court and told jury: "Does 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."

After this the jury of eight men and four women let the accused man off, setting an infamous example of orthodox society where people judge the girl's consent from the clothes they choose to wear.

After this archaic verdict the court of law faced backlash from every corner of the world, for it implies that an underwear could give a woman's consent for sex.

A social activist Ms Dillon started "I Believe Her - Ireland" Twitter page that came up with the 'This is not consent' hashtag.

"We had hoped that as a society we had moved on from these archaic, victim-blaming rape myths," said Susan Dillon to media.

Irish politician Ruth Coppinger took her protest to the lower house of the parliament, where she held up a black lace thong to highlight "routine victim-blaming". She took out the lacy underwear from her sleeve and shared a photo of the same on her Twitter account.

"I hear cameras cut away from me when I displayed this underwear in #Dail. In courts victims can have their underwear passed around as evidence and it's within the rules, hence need to display in Dail," wrote Ruth.

The protest has now turned into a mass protest being held across the country - in Galway, Limerick, Dublin, Belfast and Cork.

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Saima Siddiqui

Saima Siddiqui

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