The Dublin City Council is exploring whether to raise the town's statue of Molly Malone on to a taller plinth to keep people from groping her breasts. Legend has it that touching Malone's breasts brings good luck. Since Jeanne Rynhart created the statue in 1988, the excessive contact has not only discolored the bronze but infuriated some passers-by.
According to 23-year-old Tilly Cripwell who is urging the Council to act, the groping "sets a really bad example to younger generations" and is particularly offensive given it's "one of the few representations of women in Irish culture."
Apparently, Molly Malone was a legendary Dublin fish seller and a folk song was written about her.
From the BBC News:
According to the colourful lyrics, Molly died of a fever but then returned as a ghost, still wheeling her wheelbarrow through the city's streets.
Many public artworks in Dublin are popularly referred to by rhyming nicknames and for years, the Molly Malone statue was known as "the tart with the cart".
This name was in part due to suggestions that Molly Malone worked as a fishmonger by day and as a sex worker by night.
Cripwell is also pushing to have the statue repaired "so that her breasts aren't a different colour than the rest of her."
Previously:
• Statue of civil rights leader John Lewis replaces 100-year-old slaver monument
• Stolen: bronze statue gifted to Cincinnati by Mussolini's Rome
• Cephalopod-headed statue shows up in downtown Dallas park
