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LAST WEEK, THE Trinity College Students’ Union started its ‘Feminists of Trinity’ campaign on Facebook. Which is:

A campaign aimed at destigmatising feminism, and reclaiming the term as an all-inclusive movement to advance gender equality.

And it’s really taken off.

So far, it involves 60+ Trinity students telling their own stories of why they are feminists – but Aifric Ní Chríodáin’s contribution has gone viral on Facebook overnight.

She begins:

“When I was 13, buying lunch in a shop, the shopkeeper sneered at me and asked if I was a boy or a girl.”

Trinity College Students' Union Trinity College Students' Union

Her full story that went up yesterday has garnered over 1000 likes already, and it includes some particularly evocative excerpts:

When I was 14, my friend chose to wear lipstick to school and 4 boys grabbed him and threw him to the ground and punched and kicked him.

No one said anything.

When I was 17, and a friend wore shorts with tights in school, our vice principal cornered her and told her that if she wore outfits like that “she deserved what she got”.

No one said anything.

Other stories as part of the campaign have gained traction on Facebook as well, starting a conversation amongst thousands

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Aifric‘s post finished with these powerful words:

We live in a world where men and women expected to dress, behave, speak in a certain way. We live in a world where, if we don’t accept that this is how it is, we’re met with violence.

I’m a feminist because I need to do something with this anger and this fear. I’m a feminist because so many people shout us down when we try to tell them something’s not right. I’m a feminist because we all have to say something.

Read her full story here.

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