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THE LEGAL profession has come under the microscope after reports emerged that the oversized boxer shorts belonging to a man, an alleged victim of rape, were noted in the closing argument of one senior barrister as they appealed to the jury to find the accused not guilty.

The choice to make a point of the underwear worn by the male victim which didn’t cover up 100% of his body was made all the more crushing as it was a male defence barrister who made the underwear central to his closing argument.

It is believed boxer shorts, according to some qualified Irish barristers if you can believe it, give an indication to a rape trial of the mindset of an alleged rape victim with the insinuation presumably being that a man wouldn’t wear tight, figure-hugging boxer shorts if he didn’t want to be to raped. However, the thinking behind parading a male rape victim’s underwear around court is still a point of contention among experts.

“Underwear or clothes of any sort can of course be of important evidentiary value in a case, they can contain DNA, bodily fluids, they could have been torn in a struggle and so on,” explained one legal expert.

“Judging by this case though it seems the boxers were brought to the attention of the court for reasons not including those I’ve outlined, maybe men should wear boxers with ‘don’t rape me’ written on them every time they go out to save them from being waved about in Irish courts”.

Whether a jury is swayed by one piece of evidence or the testimony of one particular person can rarely if ever be known on a case to case basis and this remains true of this case too.

“I dunno, I hear his boxer’s had this opening on them at the front that could make it easy for anyone to reach in and grab his genitals and who knows maybe he had them on backwards on purpose, ya know? Like, that’s asking for it if I’d ever heard of it, why would you wear such a thing unless you were up for non-consensual sex,” confirmed one person to friends who didn’t contradict her.

“You just don’t wear check patterned boxers from an upmarket retailer made from 100% cotton unless you’re looking to go out that night and get raped, you know?” incorrectly confirmed another woman, who has a brain and everything.

Elsewhere, currently the Law Reform Commission is examining Ireland’s legislation in the area of rape and the Minister for Justice can be reminded of how important that is at [email protected]

Those seeking to make the parading of underwear in court mandatory can click HERE.