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Ireland's revolutionary period was marked by sexual violence — and the archives suggest the scale of outrages, from hair cutting to rape, was even worse than the papers reported at the time

Women at a vigil for republican prisoners on hunger strike in Cork City Gaol (now part of UCC) during the Civil War. Women's active role in the era has been somewhat overlooked, and so too has the sexual violence endured by so many. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive

Gender-based and sexual violence have not been considered a major aspect of periods of violent conflict in Ireland’s past.

Investigation of this type of violence has been more focused on family-related violence or the incidence of rape, harassment, and sexual assaults during periods of peacetime.