Following the suspected release of 100s of intimate images of women from across the South East a Carlow councillor has hit out saying more needs to be done to tackle sexism. This news comes two years after Victims’ Alliance, a crime victim advocacy group, said it had uncovered thousands of sexual images of Irish women being shared on internet forums. People Before Profit Councillor Adrienne Wallace said the latest leak shows nothing has changed and we cannot continue to be complacent.
Cllr Wallace added “This is a horrendous mass attack on women and young girls and we have to do more to stamp it out. Shockingly, it seems that these images were originally shared with a partner or boyfriend at the time and were later passed around only to end up on these sites. We need to counter a culture that seems to profit from the invasion and exploitation of women’s bodies. Legislation was passed in 2020 that made image-based sexual abuse a crime, this was extremely welcome but more needs to be done.”
Cllr Wallace continued “In a similar leak 2 years ago some of the images appeared to have been taken without the women’s knowledge, such as photos from changing rooms. It is clear that in our daily lives and in our intimate relationships women are not safe. We need to immediately go about implementing a comprehensive sex education that openly discusses issues around consent and respect. We also need to teach modules on how to recognise sexism in media and in culture and challenge these ideas when we encounter them in our daily lives.”