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20th December 2016
12:10am GMT
The Trinity Ball Guide has been withdrawn from campus and had its online version deleted, following criticism over a story which seemed to detail two male students impersonating paramedics and raping a drunk student placed into their care.
Publishers of the magazine initially apologised for offending readers, but defended the story on the basis that it was "clearly untrue" – however this prompted an angry backlash from Twitter users, who pointed out that the story normalised rape culture regardless of whether or not it was true.
We would like to apologise for any offence caused by a piece in our Ball Guide. The piece was intended to be clearly untrue and...
— MISC. Magazine (@TCDMiscellany) April 17, 2015
...we accept entirely that it was in poor taste. We offer our most sincere apologies for this oversight on our part, we are genuinely sorry
— MISC. Magazine (@TCDMiscellany) April 17, 2015
.@TCDMiscellany This is more than a mere "oversight". "Clearly untrue" means it's a rape fantasy in your magazine. I would be recalling it.
— Foofy Hyde (@andgoseek) April 17, 2015
The publishers later made the decision to remove all the article from physical and online circulation, reiterated their apology, and clarified that the publication was not associated with the organisers of the ball.
We are recalling hard copies from campus. Again, we are genuinely sorry for publishing this, it was a huge mistake on our part.
— MISC. Magazine (@TCDMiscellany) April 17, 2015
Our most sincere apologies. pic.twitter.com/cCiDAZ3Bcv
— MISC. Magazine (@TCDMiscellany) April 17, 2015
So far, Trinity Students' Union has not issued any comment beyond retweeting a selection of the above tweets, and reminding students that support is available from welfare officer Iain Mooney and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre for those affected by the issues contained in the story, which can be seen below.
My number is 086 159 5178 and for the DRCC call 1800 77 88 88. Don't hesitate to get in touch! https://t.co/4XQ9bzVmBn
— TCDSU Welfare (@tcdsuwelfare) April 17, 2015
