Do you ever feel like society isn’t exactly what it should be? Are you tired or pissed off with certain aspects of it? Do you just feel like cursing and smashing the patriarchy? If you answered yes to any of the above, you need to be at the Feminist Swearing Night on 16th of May at Chaplin’s Comedy Club (2 Hawkins Street).

The Feminist Swearing Night is an open-mic event that offers an opportunity to sound off about patriarchy, politics, inequality and injustice. Participants are free to do this through sharing their personal stories, rhymes, songs, general rants or any other means of expression.

Feminist Swearing Nights have been hugely popular in Brussels and Helsinki. The concept is originally created by the Finnish Feminist think-tank Hattu and brought to Dublin by the Finnish Institute in London in partnership with the leading female comedy community Funny Women.

“Dublin is a city with many exciting things going on. Like Finland, Ireland is known for strong women, so I think it’s an excellent idea to celebrate a night of strong language together”, says director Pauliina Stahlberg from the Finnish Institute in London. 

The event will be moderated by one of the founders of the feminist think-tank Hattu, Rosa Merilainen. She will be joined by Dublin’s very own stand up comedian Aine Gallagher and other special guests.

“In Brussels an Irish woman who told stories about the stupid comebacks she got on Tinder got the biggest applause. People were pissing themselves, howling with laughter. When I went to thank her in in the end, it turned out it was the first time she’d ever held a mic. I have great confidence Irish feminists’ ability to speak out using colourful language!”, says Merilainen. 

Lynne Parker,  founder and chief executive of Funny Women says she can’t wait for the event.

“I set up Funny Women over 15 years ago to give women a voice by providing a dedicated platform for female comedy and commentary. Swearing and sounding off lies at the heart of comedy so it’s appropriate for us to be partnering the Finnish Institute to bring Hattu’s empowering concept to Dublin.”

Tickets cost 6 euros and they are sold at Eventbrite. Profits from ticket sales go to Women’s Aid Ireland.