Bonjour from Paris! I arrived here yesterday evening after a delay and the struggle to find an Uber from the airport. I am now rested up and beginning to enjoy my time here.
My last few days in Ireland were great, and I became pretty comfortable with the country and its people. Earlier this week, I visited the Little Museum of Dublin, a famous museum all about the city housed in a 3-story townhouse. I went on a guided tour to learn about the women of Ireland specifically. It was a splendid place! My favorite artifact and story were about the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement. One of the founding members of the movement is Nell McCafferty who led the major historical event of the Contraceptive Train between Dublin and Belfast. In May 1971, the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement had grown frustrated with the legal restrictions on the sale/usage of contraceptives since 1935 within Ireland. To protest this, they traveled to Belfast, which is in Northern Ireland and part of the United Kingdom, to buy any forms of contraception they could get their hands on to bring back to Dublin and make a statement. The women purchased condoms and spermicide, but they were told that oral contraceptive pills required a prescription. Although they were content with what they had, they felt they needed pills as a statement, so Nell McCafferty and others purchased aspirin pills instead. They figured that customs would not know the difference and neither would those watching the protest. As they arrived back to Dublin, other protestors were waiting for them and press coverage as well. When they got to customs, the women refused to hand over the forms of birth control, and the guide shared that some women started swallowing the (aspirin) pills loudly declaring they were taking the oral contraceptive pill. The purpose of this movement was to protest the ban on contraceptives and to destigmatize birth control, especially for single women.
The next day, I decided to take my own day trip to Belfast. I had some challenges getting there with misunderstandings about the train, but, with the help of several kind Irish people, I made it! I visited the Titanic Museum which was super cool. I had no idea that the Titanic was made in Belfast. I learned about the construction, shipyard life for workers that built it, the interior decoration, the sinking, and ongoing legacy and pop culture. I spent a few hours there, and I’m so happy I went!
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