Towards the end of last year, Irish County Magazine ran a three-part special in our print series The Invisible Struggle, which shone a light on violence against women across Ireland.
Each piece — on Stalking, Coercive Control, and Sexual Violence — gave voice to Irish women’s harrowing experiences and asked experts for their insights, advice and resources. The series served as a reminder that as a society — where Ireland’s sexual offence rate is 43% higher than the EU average— we have to continue to call for a zero tolerance attitude towards gender-based violence and for better support and treatment of survivors.
The St Patrick’s Day float in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo was another reminder of this, albeit in a more disturbing way. Kieran Cuddithy described it on Liveline as a “rape float”, as it mockingly portrayed Jeffrey Epstein’s island of horrors, complete with men in wigs being chased and held down on a bed, simulating being assaulted.
Videos shared online show people in the crowd, which was full of children, laughing along. One can only imagine how it felt to be a survivor of rape or sexual assault within that crowd.
The thing is, sexist, misogynistic humour is more than just offensive. While some have the opinion that it was all just “a bit of craic”, jokes like these support a culture where sexual violence is trivialised and normalised, and have a real and damaging impact on survivors. Of course, the parade float is just a drop in the ocean when it comes to this kind of mindset across the country. We see it in the harrowing statistics; Women’s Aid, for example, recently shared that more than one in three women have experienced psychological, physical and/or sexual abuse from an intimate partner.
Also on yesterday’s Liveline show, a caller told Kieran, with a deep sigh, that she is tired. I think all women felt that in their bones. We are witnessing a constant stream of horrific stories of gender-based violence; of horrific statistics (almost one in three Gen Z males agree that a “wife should always obey her husband”); of AI being used to strip women of their dignity and consent in a new, terrifying way; of the new Netflix documentary showcasing the vitriol that exists in the “Manosphere.” Safe to say, we are all tired.
But we are also angry. It’s clear from speaking to many Irish women, and men, and from seeing the online backlash to that horrifying parade float, that there is no place in our society for this extreme misogyny. And yet, it exists. How can we make a stand against it, if we feel so small in the midst of something that feels unsurmountable?
Well, we can continue to call out misogyny when we see it. We can refuse to awkwardly laugh at misogynistic humour and ask those within our circles to do the same. We can attend protests. We can send emails to government representatives asking what exactly are their plans to counteract these dangerous attitudes; how can our systems better educate young people and show them that this is not harmless banter and should not be normalised?
We can also listen and stand with survivors. We can talk about this conversation openly. We can ask for our communities to support a Zero Tolerance Policy; insist that our cities, towns and villages make it clear that rape culture will not be accepted in any form – and, yes, rape culture includes “jokes” that trivialise assault, as well as victim blaming, and sexual objectification. We can support and fund incredible organisations across our island, from Women’s Aid and nationwide Rape Centres to Éist and Too Into You.
In November, we went along to the launch of Zero Tolerance Midlands, hosted by Éist, where a room of men and women discussed how we can grow this movement of consent, empathy, respect and dignity. Co-founder Hazel Behan admitted she had contacted multiple businesses and sports clubs to get involved and brandish the Zero Tolerance logo, but she didn’t hear back. We are now at a crisis point when it comes to violence against women and girls across this island; we all must come together to resist it.
To read each feature in our special three-part series on violence against women, which first appeared in print editions of Irish Country Magazine, click here for Stalking, here for Coercive Control and here for Sexual Violence.
