Noeline Blackwell SEXUAL VIOLENCE IS a real and endemic problem in Ireland. Dublin Rape Crisis Centre was founded in 1979 in response to the acute need for a support agency for women being attacked in their homes, on the streets and in all the places that life goes on.
A Law Reform Commission report on Irish law on rape in 2019 affirmed that “rape myths and misconceptions” play an important role in society’s attitudes to consent and consequently sexual violence. People are often not even conscious of how much they have absorbed such rape myths and how this has shaped their thinking.
We are also strangely tolerant of digital based abuse. Those who exploit others by getting or sharing another’s intimate images under false pretences and therefore, without their informed consent, are engaged in sexual abuse as surely as if they were carrying out physical sexual abuse. This image-based sexual abuse has a long tail, leaving the image subjects uncertain and often frightened about when such images might re-appear.
Put like that, you would think that the Gardaí and our courts would be the first port of call for those who have suffered this abuse. But the reality is that our law isn’t up to the job. It can’t come quickly enough. These grossly offensive acts, to which our society turns a blind eye, need to be outlawed.
Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)