FIONA LOONEY HAS spoken publicly for the first time about a sexual assault she experienced when she was younger.
The columnist opened up about the incident on TV3′s Midday, during a panel discussion about musician Chrissie Hynde’s controversial comments about rape.
Hynde told The Sunday Times she accepts responsibility for a motorcycle gang sexually assaulting her when she was in her 20s.
“If you don’t want to entice a rapist, don’t wear high heels so you can’t run from him,” The Pretenders singer said.
The comments were roundly criticised.
Looney said she was “quite dismayed” by the way many people reacted to her assault.
“I’ve never spoken about this. I was sexually assaulted about 25/30 years ago.
I had been drinking. I was drunk. My guard was down. I was wearing a short skirt. It was awful. At the time it was the worst thing that ever happened to me. It was dreadful. But afterwards, the amount of people, and I hate to say this, mainly women, who said ‘Yeah but your skirt was really short and you were quite drunk’.
I’m sorry, how is that my fault that a man forced me down and pulled my legs apart? How is that my fault because of what I was wearing?
“I was quite dismayed at how many people said ‘well, what did you expect?’ and maybe that’s why I didn’t report it actually.”
Bibi Baskin was also on the panel and spoke about being assualted while in India.
“It was dark and maybe 8 o’clock in the evening. I was not in Indian dress because I was with a mate from Ireland I dressed in western dress. So I’m walking along this part of the city where street light is dim and this man just grabbed my boob.
My immediate reaction was ‘I shouldn’t have dressed like this’. I think that’s the wrong reaction but I have to admit it was my reaction in that moment.”
During the show, Ellen O’ Malley Dunlop from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre urged “anyone who was a victim of an assault to ring the helpline and get the support and help to get through it”.
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