By Holly O'Neill
07th Nov 2016
07th Nov 2016
Louise O’Neill’s RTE documentary Asking For It?has been lauded by many as the most important Irish documentary of our time.
1 in 12 female students are victims of rape according to research by the Union Of Students in Ireland. One-third of Irish citizens will experience sexual violence and only 1 in 10 will report it. Then, there is a 1-2% conviction rate. 80% of rape cases are committed by someone known to the victim.
This is all vital information that we learned from Asking For It, information that should be taught and should be heard. Is it more important to discuss the necessity of this documentary and how important it is to ask for consent than to discuss a woman’s outfit? Not if you’re?The Independent‘s television critic, John Boland.
John Boland took offence to the shoulder-less top worn by Louise O’Neill, saying he wonders “what point she was making by turning up for an interview with two young male journalists while wearing a shoulderless party dress with a plungingly’revealing neckline.” No, I swear, he really did write that. “Was she asserting that women wore was entirely up to them and not to be construed by anything else?”, he wrote. I think we can jump right in and say yes, but she was asserting that through her words, not her choice of top.
Lads. The Indo thinks my outfit (a top, not a dress ACTUALLY) was too revealing and inappropriate for day wear #AskingForIt pic.twitter.com/QICSJlRiKY
? Louise O’ Neill (@oneilllo) 5 November 2016
You really are reading this?correctly. A male journalist judged a woman’s attire?as she discussed the important?of not judging women by their attire.
While we could rant about the irony of a woman discussing the complex and sensitive issue of consent, rape culture and sexual assault – and how there is nothing a woman can wear that can be deemed as Asking For It –?only to receive a comment from a man questioning her choice of outfit – we will leave it to the Irish women of Twitter. They took to Twitter to reveal their shoulders, the hussies.?
This isn’t even really ‘the best of#ShoulderGate on Twitter’, because it’s all the best. But here’s a selection.?
I unleashed my shoulders last night, just one though, lest you get any ideas @oneilllo #ShoulderGate pic.twitter.com/jT9A56Q5ye
? Angela Scanlon (@angelascanlon) 7 November 2016
.@RosalindJana being brilliant on #ShoulderGate pic.twitter.com/sVa02UjdkT
? Louise O’ Neill (@oneilllo) 5 November 2016
I hope Mr Boland is reviewing the #raydarcyshow tonight. Teresa Mannion HAS HER SHOULDERS OUT. #shock #horror #ShoulderGate @oneilllo pic.twitter.com/vokFscbUVG
? Barbara Scully (@barbarascully) 5 November 2016
The day that I got my PhD with my shoulders out and proud. #shouldergate pic.twitter.com/8WmRtyWYhl
? Niamh NicGhabhann (@Niamh_NicGhabh) 5 November 2016
My shoulders brings all the boys to the yard,
And there like,
Its better than yours,
Damn right its better than yours,#shouldergate? Moira Morley (@11moira) 5 November 2016
@oneilllo Happened to be wearing an off-the-shoulder top today – in front of the children & everything! pic.twitter.com/SsT7BHNDPk
? Mo?ra Fowley-Doyle (@moirawithatrema) 5 November 2016
Explaining #ShoulderGate to my dad.
Him: Wait, an actual journalist wrote that? For a newspaper?? Louise O’ Neill (@oneilllo) 5 November 2016
Hmm. #Shouldergate in art history – shoulders an obvious sign of moral decline in this one! pic.twitter.com/Zi6c5OemMT
? Niamh NicGhabhann (@Niamh_NicGhabh) 5 November 2016
Watch Asking For It on the RTE Player here. Really though, watch it.
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