No! Your Clothes Do Not Define Consent For Physical Relationship!

The trending Irish women's 'This Is Not Consent' tweets and the demonstrations in Dublin have picked up after the #Metoo movement wave that rocked the world. The #ThisIsNotConsent movement has women posting images of their underwears on social media with the hash tag, protesting the acquittal of a 27-year-old man in a rape trial.

During the trial, the man's defence lawyer, held up the accuser's underwear in court and said, '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.'

According to the accuser, the 17-year-old plaintiff consented to sex with the defendant because she was wearing a lacy thong. It set off an immediate wave of criticism, including from a member of the Irish Parliament. At a meeting of Dáil (one of the houses of Parliament), Coppinger similarly raised up her underwear but used the opportunity to call for a better legal approach to sexual violence.

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Somehow I thought as a nation we’d progressed. Somehow thought that the laws and legislations against rape or any sexual assault had changed. That the judiciary system had evolved to be a more fair system. I somehow thought that victim blaming was coming to an end and rather than pointing the finger to an innocent Male/female in shame of their body being abused we’d begin to start pointing the fingers and shaming the perpetrators. From 2002 where a 15 year old committed suicide because her underwear had been used as evidence from the defendants attorney and subsequently found him not guilty, to 2018 where an Irish girl’s underwear has been used as a piece of evidence. I was wrong. As a society, as a justice system that we believe we can trust, it has not progressed. We’re still living in the days where it’s better to not speak up.. what a shameful way to live. #thisisnotconsent • #photooftheday #quotestoliveby #quotesaboutlife #society #metoomovement #sexualassualt #rapevictim #rapeculture #uk #ireland #suicideprevention #awareness #ibelieveyou #consent

A post shared by Mélanie Jones (@melanieidkxo) onNov 30, 2018 at 2:59am PST

Thousands of women across the world have come together and are rising against the thought which is presumed by many. Questions like how does it matter? How does it matter whether it was a lacy thong or a granny-panties? Clothes do not define consent, are being asked on Instagram, Twitter and other social media websites.

There were protests in Cork, Ireland where panties were strewn on the steps to further emphasize this fact.

Read More:What Is MeToo Movement And What Took Women So Long To Open Up?

LIsten up everyone - not asking for it #itstopsnow @NWCI @DublinRCC pic.twitter.com/64PDOcAHPM

— Mary Lawlor (@MaryLawlorFLD) November 28, 2018

People have also debunked the idea that how could clothes mean consent, not just in this particular case, but in general, always. Why does it take so long to be heard?

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#ThisIsNotConsent Belfast, 2018 ❤️✊

A post shared by rachael_obyrne (@rachael_obyrne) onNov 29, 2018 at 1:42pm PST

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