A particular case has been hitting the headlines this week, the way the case was handled in court has sparked fury in Ireland and there have been a wildfire spread of protests.
Thousands of women have shared images of their underwear on Twitter, with the hashtag #thisisnotconsent, following a case in Cork in which a lawyer used an alleged rape victims choice of underwear to argue that she had given consented to sex.
Not only do I think this is one of the poorest agruements from the defence but totally irreverent to the case at all. To even try and suggest that underwear is a sudden yes to sex is outrageous. Anyone can wear a thong, even with the intention to have sex but that does not been that they can not at any point change there mind and say no.
Wearing a thong for many women is a comfortable underwear of choice and to say that women are still basing there clothes or underwear purely for men is absurd. We live in a time of propsed equal pay and equality for all , this case is a step massively in the wrong direction. We are going back in time. Real life proof that women are still not being treated as equal.
"Miss Armstrong was raped in a park near her home last September. She could not fight off the attacker because of a back condition suffered since she was a child.
She had hoped to become a lawyer, but left school after the attack because she was afraid to leave her house" (The Telegraph)
I couldn't be more infuriated and angry with the way this case was handled, a 17 year old girl who has been not only traumatised the alleged rape but then had to stand in court and have her underwear used as evidence for consent.
When will people realise that the clothes we wear, the makeup we chose to put on our faces does not say the words yes. Consent is not said via our external image.
Lindsay Armstrong, 17, was so traumatised that she ended her life by taking an overdose of anti-depressants. Her parents have said "its like she had been raped all over again".
The fact that this young women had to take her life to prove this point and change the system is shocking. There are still so many flaws within our justice system. Things need to change, NOW.
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