You might have thought Netflix showcased the greatest miscarriage of justice in American history with the screening of Making A Murderer, but it appears the tv network is about to go a whole level deeper into the world of psychological entertainment with a documentary called Audrie & Daisy. The film tells the story of two teenage girls who were sexually assaulted and depicts the intense emotional trauma they receive from public shaming in the aftermath of their attacks.

In hindsight I feel this film should come with a viewer warning, as it peels back the paper thin layers of a sensitive fifteen year old girl, Audrie Pott, who hangs herself without leaving a note, and before your tears dry it travels through every fibre of your body as it retells the story of Daisy Coleman, who at the age of fourteen was raped and left for dead by senior high school students.

Prepare to be emotionally outraged, you are about to relive a young girls last breath, to shoulder the cross of blame culture in America, this film will make you question your faith, if you have a teenage daughter you will crumble in fear for her safety. 

The documentary is such a compelling watch it will have you stomping the dust at your feet like a bull in a rodeo, it will prod you into an intense fury before leaving you helpless and at an absolute loss as to why the law doesn’t protect minors from rape the way it should.

It will leave you wanting to reach out to the victims of cyber bullying and suicide. Screenshots of social media messages such as “Kiss my closing eyes, help me sleep” express the anguish and suffering these young girls endured, messages which will break your heart.  

There are many lessons to be learned from this film, such as young girls like to gossip, that you should never drink from the bitch cup, and that all victims of rape need to be heard. They need to be heard and supported. Their voice needs to be so loud that men, be they adolescent or otherwise, know that there is no excuse for attacking, abusing, or shaming women. Their voice needs to be carried by all those who want their daughters to feel safer than Liam Neeson’s first child.

“We can’t ignore an army of voices, the words of our enemies aren’t as awful as the silence of our friends” Daisy Coleman
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Illustration by Jesse Lenz

One day the name Amanda Mellet may be as well known as Rosa Parks for fundamentally changing the landscape of society.

Her story is one many Irish women face, yet a position no woman should be subjected to in modern Ireland.

Amanda was just 21 weeks into her pregnancy when her baby was diagnosed with Edwards’ syndrome, congenital heart defects, and a prognosis of death shortly after birth if not in the womb. Under Irish law Amanda Mallet was denied the option of having an abortion.

Given the limited chance of survival and the increased risk of complications in birth she travelled to Liverpool for a termination on December 2nd, 2011.

Following the anguish of travelling abroad to access health services denied in Ireland Amanda filed a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee. The Committee found that Ireland’s abortion laws violate the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and called for reform.

The ruling aligned Ireland’s ban on abortion, subjecting a woman carrying a foetus with a fatal abnormality, to “discrimination” and equated the practice to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”

So far the Irish government haven’t been very good at listening to UN or EU rulings, but with pressure on the administration to have a referendum to Repeal The 8th there is a chance that the people of Ireland will get to speak up and correct an injustice which seems so transparent to a younger generation.

However one of the key issues which might prevent Ireland from progressing towards greater reform and access to health services is the weight of a conservative majority who may not be as receptive to constitutional change for the sake of something as ‘unholy’ as abortion. 

Ireland, traditionally a catholic stronghold, has a very gloomy past in its understanding of child mortality, historically speaking stillbirths and unbaptised infants were buried outside of church graveyards in unholy burial grounds called Cillíns.

This is significant as an older generation have a very different mentality in how they grasp the miracle of life, the suffering of humanity, and the rural attitude of ‘If you have livestock you must be prepared to have deadstock”.

The older generation accepted the loss of life as one of the hardships they faced and the practice of burying a child in a Cillín was a part of the grieving process whereby a mother would not lament over the graveside of her child and left wondering who they might have become.

The focus therefore became not on the life lost but on the lives of all those who might be. So it’s no surprise that in 1983 the Irish electorate voted by a 2:1 margin in favour of amending the 1937 Constitution to specifically protect the life of the unborn child. A referendum I might add which had the support of both Charles Haughey and Garret Fitzgerald.

The challenge facing Repeal The 8th advocates is to explain the reasons why women should have the right to an abortion, to convince traditional sections of society that the necessity for abortion is not borne out of some millennial desire to use abortion as a form of frivolous contraception. To tell people the story of Amanda Mellet, to prevent Irish women suffering further cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

“I hope the day will soon come when women in Ireland will be able to access the health services they need in our own country, where we can be with our loved ones, with our own medical team, and where we have our own familiar bed to go home and cry in. Subjecting women to so much additional pain and trauma must not continue.” Amanda Mallet
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(Image from www.abortionrightscampaign.ie)

I just can’t help being amused by the ’sexism’ storm brewing in the twitter tea cup after  Ian Cohen asked Eugenie Bouchard to ‘give us a twirl’ last Wednesday night.

The shockwave’s of an athlete enjoying the limelight after a huge victory which resulted in ‘Twirlgate’ is the most bizarre reaction to sporting achievement that I’ve ever come across.

Personally I’m a football fanatic and I love a good celebration, many of the top footballers in the world have crafted their own signature celebrations, its part of the sporting carnival, the athlete’s brand which is so important to players that seek out celebrity status and lucrative product deals. The media attention that surrounds sporting professionals has turned athletes into sex symbols for as long as I can remember, because we all love the glamour and roguery that comes with the event or the individual.

Sport in itself is a product, sportswear is branded and sponsored in most cases with nearly every single sporting event you can think of being heavily commercialised by big brands and endorsement deals.

Athletes can hardly be expected to fly the flag of gender equality when we all prop up the commercial world in which they’re crowned. Athletes such as Eugenie Bouchard who dedicate their lives to sporting achievement are naturally going to achieve a state of physical eliteness which results in a degree of idolisation, we see this happening across the board with male and female athletes. If you Google search Christiano Ronaldo the first image you’ll see is a picture of the man with his top off, with the only debate being if he is the best or the second best player in the world right now, while contemporaries such as Lionel Messi carry on about their business without the six pack media hounds.

I do acknowledge the suggestion that “It treats female athletes as quaint curiosities rather than serious athletes” (Erin Riley The Guardian), but I think this is boxing off the young tennis player in a negative way, both as an athlete and as an individual.

To assume she is some shy victim of media old men is beyond daft, she may be only 20 years young but I think she’s savvy enough to know how to act in front of the camera which gives her access to the world stage.

“I think it was an in-the-moment thing and it was funny” Eugenie Bouchard

Even a household name and seasoned pro like Serena Williams was quick to comment on this so called act of ‘sexism’ in sport:

"I didn't really want to twirl because I don't need all the extra attention. But, yeah, it was fine... whether I twirl or not, it's not the end of the world”

Perhaps that’s the difference between an athlete looking to build a brand and an athlete with a well established profile, perhaps it’s the difference between someone buzzing in new found media attention and someone who’s lived with camera’s in her life for the last ten years, or perhaps it’s just the difference in personality or humour on the day.

Furthermore some female athletes just love being, well fabulous, sure society has created a socially acceptable niche for girls to bask in a certain brand of femininity, but if Eugenie Bouchard enjoys that mould why are people so quick to dictate how she promotes herself as an individual or as a sports personality/brand. Perhaps the reaction has been so negative because the reporter was male?

Now I don’t mean to suggest that just because you’re wearing a pretty little pink dress automatically means you’re seeking out degrading media attention, just so you can land yourself the next big Adidas deal, but I think we have to be realistic and acknowledge the fact that some athletes enjoy the camera and some athlete’s enjoy being both celebrities and the face of big brands.

Footballers like David Beckham have made good if not better careers as brand celebrities than they have in their chosen profession, and if Eugenie Bouchard was to exploit this position she wouldn’t be the first female tennis player or female athlete to do so, and she may very well become the biggest name in tennis over the next few years but one thing is for sure, she’s not going to get there on twirl’s alone, which is why she’s focusing on her game unlike the ‘Twirlgate’ obsesses who are probably already tuned in to the next serve of media hype as we speak.