Molly Malone, the famed Dublin fishmonger who died of a fever in the traditional song may soon get some protection from the thousands who grope the breasts of her statue outside Dublin’s tourism office.
For reasons hard to imagine, it’s become a common practice for visitors to rub her breasts for ‘good luck,’ something that certainly didn’t mark the short life of the impoverished seafood vendor.
There’s also a campaign launched by a young busker who calls the touching misogynistic and disrespectful. “A lot of people clamour around her, kiss her on the cheek, kiss her boobs, it’s all inappropriate. It’s reducing her to this derision and not giving her the status of being a national treasure.”
Among the possible plans the Council is considering are fencing or using seating and planters to form a barrier.
The issue is not unique to Dublin, of course: many other cities have statues that have attracted gropers, including the breasts of a statue of Juliet in Verona and the testicles of the ‘Charging Bull’ statue in New York’s financial district.
