So... Rage.

Sometimes, I think rage is good. Sometimes, this country I live in incites me to rage. There are certain aspects of it that piss me the hell off, so please bear with me while I outline one (or more) of these.

Right - just last week, a 63-year-old man was given a 4 year sentence when convicted on 189 counts of sexual assault and rape. On children. By luring them into his garden shed over a period of 20 years, by a combination of bribery and blackmail. Linkies:

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/sex-abuse-sentences-do-not-fit-crime-110770.html

One hundred and eighty nine counts. Four goddamn fucking years. According to the article, Judge Olive Buttimer said the offences constituted a "disastrous breach of trust" of children and that the "sexual abuse of children over a 20-year period is a most serious offence".

Yes, Olive Buttimer, clearly the sexual assault of children to you is so incredibly serious a crime that it warrants a sentence which in most nations would be considered more appropriate for serious traffic violations. Fucking marvellous. Well done, and it's nice to know that such worthy individuals are being selected for judicial service in this country. God almighty I want to break my keyboard over something to calm down. Is it bad that I find it even worse that a female judge is capable of such dumbassery? I don't know why I expect more understanding of the gravity of rape as a crime from women, but I do. Maybe that's just the idealist in me.

This rage is partly because this fiasco of a sentence is not even the exception, it's the rule. Here on the Isle of Saints and Scholars (fucking ironic), it is not unknown for judges to hand down suspended sentences to convicted rapists, allowing them to actually walk out of court that same day. It defies logic, it really does. As a woman of Ireland, it is so validating to know that the violation of my body and my dignity as a human being is of no value whatsoever in the legal system. I mean, I'm sure he didn't mean it. He couldn't help himself. I shouldn't have been walking around at night/ wearing a short skirt/ letting strangers fool me/ drinking alcohol (gasp!).

I would like to make it clear that I have, fortunately, never myself been a victim of this awful, vicious crime. I just consider this inherent lack of respect within the judiciary for women's rights an affront to half of the country's population.

Do you know what pisses me off the most? The fact that despite all of this, the government still has the front to lament the fact that less than 10% of all rapes are reported, or followed up to the point of achieving prosecution. Because - considering the psychological and physical trauma they have already undergone, the further trauma inflicted on them by the "justice" system in being cross-examined, and having to face their attacker in court, only to have him walk free that day because despite being found guilty, ruining your life is not considered serious enough to warrant jail time - it's hard to understand why women would be slow to report it. God yes, that's a real fucking headscratcher ain't it?

God if this country was a person, sometimes I'd love to string it up by the ankles. Most especially for continuously, inexplicably voting for Fianna Fáil, who have time and again proven themselves to be nothing more than a gamut of right-wing, corrupt, insincere gobshites no more capable of running a country than the badger named Stephen currently being touted for their replacement on FaceBook. Between allowing this kind of shit and the introduction of my beloved Blasphemy Law, it defies belief that they are still in power. I know that in Ireland I often feel like I'm voting for the best of a bad bunch, and honest, let alone inspiriational politicians are notoriously thin on the ground, but I think it's time for one hell of a shake-up within Irish governance. Fianna Fáil have become far too comfortable in the seat of power, it's time to put their collective fat asses out on the street where they belong.