Trigger warning: This article contains extensive discussion of sexual violence throughout
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) has held a series of demonstrations hanging effigies labelled “rapist” around campus to mark Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
A protest outside the Arts Building (Arts Block) on Tuesday featured a hanging effigy and a banner reading “support survivors not rapists”. Students were invited to beat the hanging effigy with bats. There was also a confession box where students could anonymously write what they think of rapists.
Speaking to Trinity News, TCDSU Welfare and Equality Officer Hamza Bana explained: “We have a body dummy of a rapist and [people] can do whatever they want with the body.”
An identical demonstration took place outside the Hamilton Building today as part of a campaign urging students to “protect each other not rapists”.
In a group chat set up for the purpose of the campaign, the welfare and equality officer wrote: “We will be doing the same thing again today at the Hamilton, as historically STEM degrees are male dominant and are more likely to be perpetrators of gender based violence.”
He added that “we have a new [dummy] because the other got beat up too bad”, earning heart and fire emoji reactions in the group chat.
Bana told Trinity News that both the current Irish legislation and in the sexual misconduct policy in Trinity both “do more to protect perpetrators of sexual or gender based violence than it does to protect survivors of gender based violence.”
“We are demanding that changes be made in Irish legislation and in our sexual misconduct policy that will protect survivors of gender based violence”.
Citing a section of Trinity’s anti-bullying policy Bana went on to say that students who accuse others of rape or assault can be brought under disciplinary review raising conerns that rapists might abuse the policy as a “malicious” way to get back at the survivor.
Bana acknowledged that while not all cases end with disciplinary actions against the survivor, “it’s a massive mental toll for survivors on top of being raped.”
While the union are unsure of what they will do with the anonymous confessions, students were encouraged to “say whatever they like”.
According to Bana, the interactive demonstration aims “to give power back to survivors or anyone in general”.
In a post made to Instagram following the protest, TCDSU said that it was “important for us to affirm our commitment to protecting each other and not rapists”.
The post went on to say: “We’ve seen in our daily lives, on our campus, [and] globally, when a person goes to protect the community by calling a rapist a rapist, the system works against the community and punishes the survivors”.
In a statement to Trinity News, TCDSU President Jenny Maguire said that this year has seen the new Dignity, Respect and Consent (DRC) service “consistently used as a weapon against those who speak up against sexual violence”.
Maguire continued: “Students have been brought all the way to the junior dean for trying to protect themselves and their friends around them”, noting that this “creates fear, silence and a complete sense of powerlessness”.
“The union decided to specifically target this, putting on a purposefully exaggerated countermeasure for this specific issue”, she said.
“The fear felt by survivors such as myself is real, but is being bullied into silence. The favour has been returned”.
Maguire added that the “primary focus of the actions is as an opportunity to build to a larger action, something going very well”.
“Over 50 people have already signed up to partake and there is more to come”, she concluded.
Trinity News has reached out to College for a comment on this matter.
The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre is available to contact through its 24-hour helpline at 1800 77 8888 for anyone affected by issues related to sexual violence.
