This week, hundreds of women (and a fair few men) took part in the annual ‘Reclaim the Night’ march around Glasgow’s West End. The march, organised by Glasgow Rape Crisis, is a declaration of the unacceptability of any violence against women, but particularly focuses on sexual violence.
In Scotland, only 2.9 per cent of rapes recorded by the police lead to a conviction. When you consider the significant number of rapes which are never reported to the police, an estimated 40 per cent of total rapes committed, the conviction rate is even lower. With such a high proportion of unreported rapes, it may appear irresponsible to publicise the appalling conviction rate in Scotland as it may deter more women from seeking justice However, without raising awareness on the failings of the legal system in dealing with cases of sexual violence, it is hard to see how the process of reform currently underway would have come to pass.
The previous Labour-led administration set in progress reforms of the law on sexual offences, which are now being realised. These changes will, amongst other things, widen the definition of rape. However, it may be that changing public attitudes is the real key to both improving conviction rates and progressing the campaign to end sexual violence.
More work is needed. Elish Angiolini, the Lord Advocate, believes that, “If we are widening the crime of rape, we have to hope there will also be an education campaign which will bring the support of the public to understand that rape is no longer the narrow crime that it once was.”
That may help to inform jurors and lead to an improved rate of conviction, but the real goal is of course to stop rapists from committing this crime in the first place. In order to achieve this, public attitudes need to fundamentally change.
Research conducted earlier this year on behalf of Rape Crisis Scotland found that 27 per cent of Scots believe that women who are dressed in revealing clothing can be at least partly responsible for being raped. A further 24 per cent believed a woman was in some way responsible for being raped if she was drunk and almost a third (29 per cent) thought the woman contributed to her rape if she was flirting. Another 15 per cent believed a woman was responsible for being raped if she was known to have had many sexual partners.
On the back of this evidence, Rape Crisis Scotland have launched a new campaign, This Is Not An Invitation To Rape Me, which aims to tackle the assumptions and judgements people make about women who are raped, by stimulating debate.
The campaign aims to debunk the following myths:
• A woman is responsible for rape if she is dressed provocatively
• A woman is responsible for rape if she engages in some level of sexual activity
• A woman is responsible for rape if she has been drinking alcohol
• Rape is a crime committed by strangers, therefore women can’t be raped by their partner or spouse
The campaign ran on billboards across Scotland last month, with accompanying literature being rolled out via regional Rape Crisis centres, and has been supported in the Scottish Parliament in a motion from Labour MSP, Cathy Peattie.
The reality is that with such ingrained attitudes, this campaign is only a small step in the right direction. The work of Rape Crisis is laudable, but each of us have the responsibility to challenge our own and others perceptions of rape and to judge not the victims of these crimes, but the perpetrators.