“You have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front.”

These formidable, regrettable words will follow defence barrister Elizabeth O’Connell around for the rest of life. However, she is not the only one to have her reputation defined by this derogatory statement. A 17 year old girl now has to face life with the knowledge that her attacker has been acquitted of his crimes, due to her choice of underwear.

This trail which took place in Cork, has caused outrage across the world. Women have taken to posting pictures of their underwear on social media in protest, using the #ThisIsNotConsent hashtag. This yet another case of victim blaming, where a woman’s choice of clothing is seem as a just reason by a rapist, judge and jury, for committing a violent act. It is unbelievable that in today’s society, where #MeToo is still part of the news regularly, that a case like this could happen.

The controversy caused MP Ruth Coppinger to produce a pair of underwear in the Irish Parliament to criticise the “routine victim- blaming” of rape victims. She commented “it might seem embarrassing to show a pair of thong here…how do you think a rape victim or a woman feels at the incongruous setting of underwear being shown in court?” Additionally, Coppinger has called for a reform of the legal system, introducing a tighter rule on what can be shown as evidence within court.

Protests and marches, supported by the National Women’s Council of Ireland, have been seen all over Ireland, with underwear being draped on the steps of the courthouse and washing lines displaying women’s underwear being pinned up in the centre of Dublin.

Why should a women, man or child have to change the way the dress in order to protect themselves? It seems idiotic in world where we celebrate Victoria’s Secret shows where the ‘Angels’ parade around in lingerie, whilst a 17 year old girl walking home, whose underwear is not even visible, is attacked.

Lindsay Armstrong’s case has also been shared multiple times over social media this last week. She was just 16 when she was raped in a park and her underwear was a focal point of her rape trial in 2002. During the trail, she was forced to hold up her thong and read the phrase ‘Little Devil”, which was printed on the underwear. The humiliation of  being told that her choice of underwear was an agreement of consent caused her to take her life two weeks after the trail ended.

The cause of rape is rapists, not drinking, flirting, walking alone, dancing or wearing a thong, it is someone’s choice to force themselves upon another without consent.  These vile acts have claimed too many lives already, the act of choosing to put on a thong should not be a reason to claim another.

Hannah Simpson-Orlebar