The lenience with which sexual predators and rapists are treated by Irish judges always astounds me. The most recent was this week, in July 2012, where a six year sentence was handed down with five and a half years inexplicably suspended by Judge Hogan. There are more judgements to see here. I find this offensive, and I know that this system of ‘justice’ is precisely what has, and what will continue to deter women from reporting crimes against them. Continue reading
This was published in the Irish Times and Irish Examiner and is my response to a discussion I heard on Today FM about a ‘glamour model’. This interview coincided with newly published figures on sexual assault in Ireland and I address the probable link between the glamour culture and objectification of women. Continue reading
Evening Echo, Friday, November 5, 2010
I wrote this article in response to hearing a women speaking about being a stay at home Mum. She spoke articulately and honestly about how difficult she found it, and how guilty she felt about that.
Of all the articles I’ve written so far this has received the biggest response. Continue reading
This was my response to an article in The Irish Examiner looking at prostitution and trafficking, abuse and attacks on sex workers. The accompanying photograph was, in my opinion, highly inappropriate. Continue reading
I wrote this over 15 years ago in response to a set of new advertisements on TV that in my opinion promote and normalize “age-related” cosmetic surgery for women. Both the Irish Examiner and The Irish Times published this.
I am a counselling psychologist working in private practice in Cork city and county. Last week a teenage client told me she was very upset because she could see ‘expression lines’ on her face.
I wrote this in The Irish Times in response to figures published 15 years ago (!! ) on rape in Ireland. I work with women and children who have been raped and sexually assaulted – it is something about which I feel very strongly. And as I read it today, the week of the Tuam babies revelations, International Women’s Day 2017, I find myself wondering if anything has really changed?
This was the first commissioned article I wrote for the Farmer’s Journal. It looks at issues around domestic violence against women. It’s old, and so some of the info is out of date!
In the Journal we often get telephone calls from women who are being abused by their husbands. Many of them have never spoken to anyone about the abuse and do not know what their rights are. Here, Cork psychologist Sally O’Reilly looks at the problem of domestic violence and outlines the options open to women who are being abused:
