Something that often strikes me as odd is the selective outrage of feminists.
The latest instalment of this is the apparent silence following the WRC’s decision to award €5,000 in compensation to a worker Aldi dismissed after discovering that he had sexually assaulted a female co-worker at a different job.
In Ireland, you’ll notice this selective outrage in areas such as the complete silence of feminists to the fact that a man who previously expressed his support for Female Genital Mutilation is the spokesperson of the Islamic Cultural Centre, or how the Gender Recognition Act allows violent men to be held in women’s jails by the ‘magic’ of a piece of paper.
These are issues that, if tackled properly, would give feminism in Ireland – in this writer’s opinion – a much needed dose of credibility. I won’t be holding my breath, however.
The victim in the case in question, Donna O’Loughlin, waived her right to anonymity so that the man who sexually assaulted her – in an ordeal which lasted over a three hour period – could be named.
O’Loughlin told the Sunday World that she went public in order for others to know what Mohammed Kashif had done to her and that he is “a sexual predator”.
Kashif encountered O’Loughlin when they shared a shift at a fast food restaurant in Limerick on her first day of work in the Kebabish chipper on May 20, 2022.
After Aldi ‘higher ups’ became aware of the assault, Kashif was fired.
You might think that a big chain like Aldi standing up for women and firing a pervert like Kashif in order to protect its female staff would win some kind of feminist anti-sexual assault award – if such a thing existed – yet Aldi has been forced to pay Kashif compensation due to its apparent concern for the safety of its female staff.
The feminist outrage – if there is any – is being drowned out by the sound of crickets.
Here is what Kashif did to O’Loughlin as reported by the Sunday World:
“Detective Elaine O’Keefe said Kashif had “slid his hand over her buttocks and then slapped her buttocks quite firmly. He asked her for kisses and for sex”.
Detective O’Keefe said as Ms O’Loughlin bent forward in the course of her work, Mr Kashif “twice grabbed her vagina”.
The detective said that Ms O’Loughlin pushed Mr Kashif away and “he laughed at her”.
“He grabbed her breast and rubbed himself against her and asked, ‘can you feel my erection?’
Kashif pleaded guilty to sexual assault only at the 11th hour with his victim describing his actions towards her as “aggressive and violating”.
She said that Kashif had “laughed” at her as she tried to avoid his repeated advances and that she had been made to feel “terrible and worthless”. He received a two month suspended sentence and was not added to the sex offenders register.
After he avoided any kind of ‘real’ punishment for what he did to O’Loughlin, you’d think the feminists would be wearing Aldi t-shirts, wouldn’t you?
Some might expect them to hold a good old fashioned picket of the WRC especially given some of the comments made by adjudicator Patsy Doyle who noted Kashif’s “unblemished record” which she said Aldi had not given regard to.
According to the Sunday World, Doyle “found Aldi was “overwhelmed” by seeing the newspaper report at a later stage and “got lost in its anticipation of harm to the business” when deciding to fire Kashif.
She also noted his eight weeks of ‘uneventful service’ – which makes it sound like she would expect Aldi to wait and see if he committed another sexual assault to decide if it was a good idea to fire him.
Feminists et al had much to say – and rightly so – about the suspended sentence of former Irish Defence Forces member Private Cathal Crotty after he avoided jail after assaulting a woman in 2023.
If bad examples are to be called out (although selectively as we have discussed above) surely good examples should be in for some praise.
Not so in this case, it would seem.
Speaking to the Sunday World, O’Laughlin said she felt “completely violated” by the WRC’s decision.
“I felt violated the night he attacked me, I felt violated and humiliated in the court when the judge gave him a suspended sentence and now here I am again experiencing another violation … that he is being paid off the back of my suffering. Because that’s what this is!” she said.
O’Loughlin said that she wished to “thank” Aldi for sacking Kashif asking why Aldi should be “punished” for “protecting” its female staff.
A good question.
Speaking of what victims of sexual assault go though in the courts she said “we’re the ones who put ourselves out there, but the law in this country is so clearly set up to work in favour of abusers”.
In circumstances where a man like Kashif walks free from court and later gets €5,000 compensation for unfair dismissal by a company who says it was trying to protect its female workers, it sounds like she might be right in this case.