Clothing Is Not Consent: Reflections on a Recent Irish Trial
by Stephanie Hauer — On November 6, a 27-year-old Irish man in Cork was found unanimously not guilty of raping a 17-year-old girl. As part of his defense, his senior legal counsel, Elizabeth O’Connell, told 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? You have to look at the way she was dressed. She was wearing a thong with a lace front.” I was not there when the alleged a