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Camden Street

Dublin woman punched four times in the face in homophobic attack after night out

“This is what being punched four times in the face looks like because you’re a queer … this is Ireland 2016.”

VICTORIA CURTIS WAS punched in the face on her way home from a night out in Dublin this weekend after she spoke back to a man who told her and her friends to take off their clothes.

Curtis has shared her story because she said she’s “tired of people saying this kind of stuff doesn’t happen”.

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The vicious attack happened on Dublin’s Camden Street at around 2am on Sunday morning.

Curtis took to Facebook later that day to share a photo of her injured face along with this post:

This is what misogyny looks like. This is what being a faggot looks like.This is what happens women on Saturday nights walking home with their friends.This is what a man did to me after I told him it wasn’t cool for him to tell us to take off our trousers, pull down our knickers and show him our arse’s.

This is what being punched four times in the face looks like because you’re a queer. This is what happens when we call them out.

This is what will keep happening if we keep ignoring and accepting their behaviour.

This is why consent courses are needed in colleges. This is Ireland 2016.

Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning, Curtis explained how the man used abusive language and called her and her friends ‘feminist feckers’ and ‘faggots’ after they called him out on his comments.

Curtis told Ryan how the man said, ‘I voted Yes for marriage equality but I didn’t vote for that.

He said he wouldn’t hit my friend because she was a girl but that he didn’t know what ‘that’ was – directing it at me.

The women then began walking away from him when he started directing homophobic comments towards Curtis once again.

It was directed at me because I’m identifiably gay. I have short hair, I wear jeans, I dress like a tomboy … not that that even matters.

She described how her friend started shouting back but she took her by the arm and told her ‘It’s over, let’s go home’.

The man then asked for Curtis to shake his hand before punching her.

He then put his hand out and was like hey ‘man’, let’s resolve this ‘man’, shake my hand ‘man’.

“I was like, I’m not shaking your hand, you’re a f**ker, f off and then he threw four punches on my face.

“I lost my balance and I hit the ground and I curled up and I put my hands around my head.”

‘I’m a very proud queer woman … how dare he make me question that’

Describing the aftermath of the attack, Curtis said, “I woke up yesterday morning and I just had a few hours where I was in and out of tears and then hospital visits and then going down to the gardaí to give a statement at 10.30 at night.

“It has been full on and you know I am a little bit shook from it.

I’ve experienced verbal abuse on the streets before and you can kinda brush it off but I’ve never experiences an attack like that. It ended up so violently.

“How dare he, I’m really proud of who I am, I’m a very proud queer woman … how dare he make me question that.

“To make me question being proud of myself, that’s the real kicker.”

This is constantly happening women, and it’s not just me and it’s not just my friends. Street harassment against females is rife and that’s why we turned around and called him out on it.


RTÉ Radio 1 / SoundCloud

Nothing was broken in the attack and Curtis told Tubridy:

I’m obviously a bit shook but I’m a tough nut and it will take more than a few punches to crack me.

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