Whether we take this image as a sign of love or a sign of a woman's strength, I cannot say clearly. However, it is fair to call this a photo that brought tears to the eyes of millions of people around the world.
The photo
shows a very beautiful young woman shooting with a gun. To a bystander it is,
but to Ireland, it is a portrait of their rosy self. They still use it today as
an example of a woman's love and strength.
Here is the
background story of the photo. During fighting between Northern Ireland and
Britain, the boyfriend of the girl in this photo, an Irish IRA soldier, is
wounded by British gunfire. At the same time, this girl takes his gun and
starts shooting non-stop at the British army to protect her boyfriend.
Meanwhile, the Irish military takes her lover for treatment, but the young
woman is killed by a British shot during the battle with the British. It is
said that the British army not only stopped the exchange of fire when they
found out that it was a young woman who had been fighting with them until now
but also handed over their bodies to the Irish army after knowing the reason
for the fight. However, a British soldier made a very important statement after
this incident. That is 'she fought for her love, for the country but we are
fighting for a queen we have never seen'. However, after this incident, the
story says that she became the rose of Ireland.
Along with
this story, this image was chosen for Women's Day.
The author
stated in an interview with RTÉ Brainstorm that he "didn't stage it".
The photo shows a woman with long hair wearing a polka-dot dress and carrying
an assault rifle.
"I
submitted that photograph to the Irish press," Doyle once declared.
"But the editors refused to print it in the paper. They considered it
inappropriate to print a photograph showing a woman with a gun". One
version was eventually printed in Coleman's 2004 book "All Changed: 50 of
Photographing Ireland" on page 81 with the caption "An IRA woman on
active duty in west Belfast with an AR18 assault rifle":
These shots,
showing women as active volunteers of the Provisional IRA taking part in the
fighting, emerged at a crucial moment. Three Belfast women, among them Dollars
and Marian Price, had recently joined the Provisional IRA. Cumann na mBan, a
republican women's organization founded in 1914, disagreed with the recruitment
of women into the IRA. Some women, however, saw their place firmly within the
IRA rather than a women-only auxiliary force.
As such, these images helped to attract women to the Provisional IRA by portraying them as combatants equal to men, something they were ultimately not allowed to do. Cumann na mBan responded with their campaign. The organization's former adjutant-general describes how yellow posters with the phrase "Cumann na mBan: Join the Women's Army" was produced.
However,
there are many criticisms behind this story.
Just half a
century ago, sectarian conflict broke out in Northern Ireland, leading to the
creation of the Provisional IRA, a newly dominant faction of the Irish
Republican Army. What became known as "The Troubles" began in the
late 1960s and lasted nearly 30 years, during which the British Army engaged in
fierce battles with paramilitary groups across Northern Ireland.
Conversations
with historians and photographers reveal different stories behind the picture.
Snopes was unable to determine why the photo circulated online in late 2019 and
spring 2020. But what is clear is that the story of the woman grabbing her
boyfriend's gun is a fabrication.
The photo can even be found on merchandise. Refinish, who spent 15 years researching republicanism in Ireland, saw it on postcards, T-shirts, and coffee mugs. Although each other has different ideologies about her story, many people still want to accept her love story as true.