Rape & sexual violence
- Approximately 80,000 women suffer rape and attempted rape every year (Walby and Allen, Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking: Findings from the British Crime Survey, 2004).
- Most women in the UK do not have access to a Rape Crisis Centre (Map of Gaps).
- A poll for Amnesty in 2005 found that;
- a third of people believe women who flirt are partially responsible for being raped
- a quarter of those asked said that they thought a women was partially or totally responsible for being raped if she was wearing sexy or revealing clothing
- more than one in five (22%) held the same view if a woman has many sexual partners
- around one in 12 people (8%) believed that a woman was totally responsible for being raped if she has many sexual partners
- more than a quarter of people (30%) said that a woman was partially or totally responsible for being raped if she was drunk
- more than a third (37%) held the same view if the woman had failed to clearly say “no” to the man.
- Conviction rates for rape are now at their lowest, far lower than other crimes (Kelly, Lovett and Regan, A gap or a chasm? Attrition in reported rape cases, 2005). Only 5.7% of reported rape cases end in a conviction for the perpetrator.
Resources
Coping with sexual assault; a guide for young people The Haven Paddington, May 2008
The Crisis in Rape Crisis Women's Resource Centre and Rape Crisis England and Wales, March 2008
Not either/or but both/and; Why we need Rape Crisis Centres and Sexual Assault Referral Centres EVAW, CWASU, Rape Crisis, Fawcett
Map of Gaps End Violence Against Women and Equality and Human Rights Commission, November 2007
Without Consent HMCPSI and HMIC Thematic Report, 2007
Women and Justice Fawcett, 2007
A Gap or a Chasm L Kelly et al, Home Office Research Study 293