News

'Secret shame' - new postcard

In spite of the fact that the only person who is EVER responsible for sexual violence is a perpetrator, one feeling that many survivors are left with following an assault is shame.

It is this, coupled with a fear of being judged and/or disbelieved that so often results in survivors remaining silent, feeling unable to speak to anyone about what happened, to seek support, or report to the police.

Rape Crisis Scotland is honoured during the 16 Days of Action to present a new A5 postcard featuring a poem by Angela McCrimmon which we feel so well expresses so many of these feelings, and to reinforce that all of us can play a part in supporting survivors. The first of these is by collectively placing shame right back where it really belongs – with perpetrators.

Please feel free to circulate this. If you would like to receive hard copies of the postcard, please contact info@rapecrisisscotland.org.uk.

Young voices preventing sexual violence at the Scottish Parliament – 4th December 2015

Scottish Social Attitudes survey

The Scottish Government has published new findings on attitudes to violence against women from the Scottish Social Attitudes survey. The full report is available here.

Only 3 in 5 people in Scotland think a woman is not at all to blame for being raped if she wears revealing clothing (58%) or is very drunk (60%), new findings from ScotCen Social Research’s Scottish Social Attitudes survey reveal.

The report on attitudes towards violence against women, commissioned by the Scottish Government to address a gap in current evidence, explores in detail the attitudes of people in Scotland to violence against women and shows that as many as 5% thought that the woman was entirely to blame for being raped if she was very drunk.

Social divisions on victim blaming
The findings also reveal stark contrasts in attitudes to rape between different social groups:
• Age: Younger people were significantly less likely to blame the victim for being raped – 70% of those aged 18 to 29 years old thought a woman wearing revealing clothing was ‘not at all to blame’ for being raped, compared with 38% of those aged over 65
• Education: 65% of people with degrees thought a woman who was very drunk was ‘not at all to blame’ for being raped, compared with 46% of those with no formal qualifications
• Income: 70% of those in the highest income group thought a woman wearing revealing clothing was ‘not at all to blame’, compared with 50% of those in the lowest income group The research also covered the attitudes of people in Scotland to a range of other issues including:
• Revenge porn: 88% said that they thought an ex-boyfriend posting naked photos online was ‘very seriously wrong’, while 87% thought it would cause ‘a great deal’ of harm.
• Domestic abuse: a higher proportion felt it was ‘very seriously wrong’ for a man to get angry and slap his wife (92%) compared with a wife slapping her husband (81%).
• Prostitution: 34% of respondents thought paying for sex was ‘always wrong’, while 10% thought it was ‘not wrong at all’.

Susan Reid, Research Director at ScotCen commented: “Today’s findings show that although most people in Scotland feel that violence against women is wrong, views vary considerably depending on the circumstances. For example, in certain contexts more people feel that a rape victim is partly to blame. Changing people’s attitudes is essential to eradicating violence against women and girls; this report highlights how far we still have to go.”

Helpline success in THP Helpline Impact Award

The Rape Crisis Scotland Helpline is delighted to have won 2nd prize in the THP Helpline Impact Award, in recognition of the on-going development and impact of the service.

The RCS Helpline is open daily, across Scotland from 6pm – midnight, offering free and confidential support and information to survivors of sexual violence (aged 13+), their friends, relatives and workers. The RCS Helpline has consistently strived to develop and enhance its service to ensure a high quality response to anyone affected by sexual violence, at any time in their life.

There have been many developments since we launched including:
• An email support service available across Scotland, offering confidential written support and information to survivors.
• A Deaf access service available every Tues afternoon, with enhanced access via minicom, email, sign on screen and text relay. This was launched in 2009 and since then all volunteers and staff have undergone deaf awareness training prior to staffing the helpline.
• The development of multi lingual and translated support materials supported by publicity, partnership working with BME women’s organisations and the availability of language interpreting services to promote access to the RCS Helpline. All helpline staff and volunteers receive training in relation to BME access, Forced Marriage and FGM awareness prior to staffing the helpline.
• Partnership working with Rape Crisis Centres across Scotland to develop a support pathway from the national helpline to on-going support provided locally, developing and evaluating outcomes to measure the effectiveness and contributing to the development and implementation of National Service Standards for Rape Crisis services.
• Providing an enhanced response to survivors of stalking including the development of a support and information resource and participation in multi agency working to address the legal and support needs of survivors of stalking.
• Partnership working with Police Scotland to provide an automatic referral for survivors of sexual crimes who wish to access support and information following reporting. This process includes gathering anonymised feedback from service users on their experience of reporting. The feedback is provided to Police Scotland to inform developments in their training and practice in relation to sexual crimes.
• The development of a support resource and response for survivors of sexual crimes who were attacked overseas, this development was underpinned by partnership work with the FCO and Police Scotland.
• The development of a support and information resource for LGBTI survivors of sexual violence, accompanied by twice weekly ‘badged’ access sessions on the helpline and informed by partnership work with LGBTI organisations, including the training of helpline staff and volunteers and attaining a silver Chartermark promoting LGBTI access.
• The development of a wide range of support and information resources available in hard copy and from the RCS website.

The RCS Helpline would like to thank all of the workers who have supported and contributed to the development of the RCS Helpline, but most importantly we would like to thank all of the survivors, friends, relatives and workers who have used our service.