I would consider myself to be a selective history buff. I don’t know every single thing about every single point in time leading up to now. It’s not that I don’t think certain pieces of history are important; there are just some things that pique my interest more than others.
For example, I could go on and on about the House of Tudor or Richard Siken’s poetry, but I have absolutely no interest in knowing about the Industrial Revolution, even though I’m sure it could very easily be argued as more important.
A few weeks ago, I was scrolling on TikTok and came across something that caught my attention. Before anyone says anything, no, I don’t get my news from social media. This was just a rare, lucky exception.
It was an interview on ITV’s This Morning, a broadcasted British daytime magazine program. The hosts of their segment “This Morning’s View” were discussing Dublin City Council’s recent decision to hire stewards to patrol the statue of Molly Malone. The reason for the added patrol? To prevent the statue from being groped.
Molly Malone is a well-known figure in Irish folklore. The legend is that Molly was a beautiful young girl who worked as a fishmonger until she died suddenly of a fever. She is said to now haunt the streets of Dublin.
She is most famously known for the song “Sweet Molly Malone,” the unofficial anthem of Dublin. Despite this attention, there is no proof or confirmation that she was ever a real person.
Nick Ferrari, one of the hosts, explained that it is believed that touching or rubbing the statue’s breasts is considered to bring good luck. Now, unlike the rest of the copper statue, her breasts are gold because of how many people violate her in that way.
I feel like it’s important for me to note that, after a lot of research, I can’t find an explanation for why this happens. The closest I got to an explanation was that a tour guide may have done it, claiming it brings good luck for publicity, and people caught word of it.
The thing I can’t help but wonder is, why that part of her body? Why couldn’t whoever started the tradition have touched her shoulder or her hands? And what does that decision say about the treatment of women throughout history?
Before I could respond to my computer screen, Ashley Louise James, another one of the hosts present, asked the same questions.
James said, “I think we can’t even just be appreciated and respected, even when we’re made of metal.”
In what seemed like an effortless explanation, she drew a line from this kind of behavior to how it primes violence against women.
Hearing her say this felt like a shot in the heart.
Ferrari went on to disagree, saying that it was a stretch to make that claim. He explained that it was an Irish tradition no different than kissing the Blarney Stone or drinking too much Guinness.
It was a frustrating watch to say the least. To me, it was just another example of men failing to understand how their behavior continues the cycle of the abuse of women.
I think the thing that bothers me the most is the way that women are first represented within society and then, of course, how women are treated. A research article, which is from UW-Lacrosse of all places, explained that only 6% of statues in the U.S. are of real women.
The article explains that “statues of allegorical figures of women — those that represent ideas like liberty and peace, but not real women — are more prevalent than real, named representations.”
Notable examples extend from just Malone and also include Shakespeare’s Juliet in Verona and Mother Goose in Central Park.
This, in my opinion, is a serious problem when we as a society fail to represent women or other marginalized identities. We cannot leave out certain narratives from public art. If we do that, we fail to give society a complete understanding of history. It takes away from the significant roles that women have played in history.
Women are rarely represented as significant figures in society, and when they are, they usually aren’t even real women. Seeing yourself represented socially, politically, culturally or in any other capacity primes the belief that you too can achieve what you wish to achieve.
I’m not sure where we need to go from here in regard to representation. As for Molly Malone, whether she’s real or not, she deserves to be protected. That being said, a lot of the response I’ve seen so far from the general public is that efforts need to be focused not on the inanimate, but real people who face gender-based violence and sexualization.
Braun can be reached at [email protected].
