After their outrage over a 27-year-old man in Ireland being acquitted of rape charges based on the survivor's thong, women across the world are sharing pictures of their underwear on social media with hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent.
On November 6, a criminal court in Ireland acquitted the man guilty of rape charges after his defence lawyer held up the 17-year-old's underwear in court and told the judge and the 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?
A jury of eight men and four women let off the accused.
The case sparked outrage in Ireland and across the world, where many women objected the idea of using underwear to imply consent.
A social media campaign was started in the name of #ThisIsNotConsent for which many celebrities and politicians came out in support. One Irish politician Ruth Copperinger took the protest to Irish parliament, where she held up a thong to highlight 'routine victim blaming', which is also common in India.
Protests now being held across the country - in Galway, Limerick, Dublin, Belfast and Cork, to support the social media campaign.
Women are posting pictures of their thongs online in support of an underage teen whose underwear was used as evidence in a rape trial to suggest she had consented to sex. #ThisIsNotConsent pic.twitter.com/6snfRSdIOD
— DW News (@dwnews) November 15, 2018
I hear cameras cut away from me when I displayed this underwear in #Dáil. In courts victims can have their underwear passed around as evidence and it's within the rules, hence need to display in Dáil. Join protests tomorrow. In Dublin it's at Spire, 1pm.#dubw #ThisIsNotConsent pic.twitter.com/DvtaJL61qR
— Ruth Coppinger TD (@RuthCoppingerTD) November 13, 2018