☿ Liberation: Ireland's Condom Train (video)

TheJournal.ie; Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Contraceptive Train ran on May 22, 1971. Feminists from the Irish Women's Liberation Movement bought condoms, spermicidal jelly, and aspirin (in place of the pill) to give out.

The Condom Train incident

What's the big fuss then? Ya eat these?

There is a new tribute to the 1971 Contraceptive Train, which changed Ireland's sexual landscape forever: a musical has been written about the Irish women's movement.

One Saturday morning in May 1971, 49 Irish women changed the social landscape of Ireland when they took a train from Belfast to Dublin.

Archive @irishtimes pic of Contraceptive Train in 1971. Mairin Johnston made the iconic IWLM banner in her kitchen! pic.twitter.com/ZJEk7vz8ll— Rough Magic (@RoughMagicIRL) Sept. 19, 2015 Source: Rough Magic/Twitter

Power to ♀☿ of the world!

The women were part of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement, and they made news all over the world when they brought condoms down from Northern Ireland [UK], while contraception was illegal in the Republic [of Ireland].

It was a landmark moment in the Irish women’s movement, which became known as the contraceptive train. The story is being brought to the stage next month in the form of a musical, The Train. 

• The Contraceptive Train on Track for Abbey Theatre! Critically acclaimed musical "The Train" inspired by true story
  

Beginning split between Church and State

We could use more condoms in U.S.

While contraception was available in the North, the women couldn’t get their hands on the pill on the trip as they didn’t have a prescription, so they bought large amounts of condoms.

 

They also decided to buy hundreds of aspirin tablets [to mimic the pill] and publicly swallowed them at the station, as customs officials wouldn’t immediately know the difference.

 

India still won't allow saucy condom ads.

Director of The Train and Rough Magic Artistic Director Lynne Parker said, “The IWLM and The Contraceptive Train marked the beginning of the split between Church and State -- a schism that is ongoing.” More

Hey, YOU, prevent pregnancy with easy contraception. Sign banned in U.S. and Ireland.

• Ireland must remove the shackles from its women (CNN 2018) In 1971, 47 years ago, a group of Irish feminists boarded a train to and from Belfast, Northern Ireland (part of UK) so they could buy condoms, which were not available in the [South of the island known as the] Republic of Ireland.
• The "Contraceptive Train" spawns musical (The Irish Times)
• "By getting on that train, a group of brave women made the Catholic Church and the Irish state look ridiculous"
  
• RTÉ Archives: Condom Train and Women in the Media Journalist Nell McCafferty and broadcaster Marian Finucane reminisce about the 1971 condom train.



When God Was a Woman

• “A Basic Issue of Women's Liberation”: The Feminist This event, which became known as the “Contraceptive Train” or “Condom Train,” highlighted the hypocrisy of Ireland's laws on contraception. 
• Mary Kenny, a women's liberator (spiked-online.com) The one-time feminist firebrand talks to the spiked review about her...known as the "condom train" – an attempt to challenge Ireland's rigid...