After ‘victim blaming’ rape trial, women share pics of lingerie to show #thisisnotconsent

Women marched to a courthouse in Ireland and took to Twitter in protest to show that lingerie choice is not consenting to having sex.

The controversy began after a barrister asked an Irish court to consider a teenager’s underwear choice during a rape trial, according to the BBC. The defendant, a 27-year-old man, was found not guilty, according to the network.

The man accused of the crime said that the encounter was consensual, while the complainant said he dragged her across the ground and assaulted her, according to the Irish Examiner.

During the trial, defense counsel Elizabeth O’Connell said in her closing argument that the jury should consider the woman’s underwear choice, the paper reported.

“Does the evidence out-rule the possibility that she was attracted to the defendant and was open to meeting someone and being with someone?” she asked, according to the Examiner. “You have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front.”

The remark sparked a firestorm, with some, such as Grace O’Malley Dunlop of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, calling for legal reform, according to the Irish Independent.

“Rape is rape, and no victim of rape or sexual assault brings it upon themselves. It is an act of violence and it is nothing to do with sex,” she said, according to the paper.

Ruth Coppinger, a member of Parliament, held up a pair of women’s underwear in protest, the BBC reported.

“It might seem embarrassing to show a pair of thongs here ... how do you think a rape victim or a woman feels at the incongruous setting of her underwear being shown in a court?” she said, accoring according to the network.

On Twitter, hundreds of women posted their own photos of underwear and lingerie alongside the hashtag #ThisIsNotConsent. The overall message was clear: the kind of underwear a woman chooses to wear is not consent for sex.

“I wear lingerie because it makes me feel good not as an invitation for sex, believe it not, not everything is centered around the enjoyment of men,” one woman wrote on Twitter.

“If I was in a court room as a victim of sexual abuse, I can’t imagine I’d ever be asked if I was wearing boxers or briefs,” another user wrote.

People also created posters and art for the hashtag, and marched on the courthouse Wednesday in protest.