One in three people believes that women who behave flirtatiously are at least partially responsible if they are raped, a report published today reveals. A similar number think that women are partially or wholly responsible for being raped if they are drunk, and more than a quarter believe women are responsible if they wear sexy or revealing clothing.
The Amnesty International report was described as "shocking" by the group's UK director, Kate Allen. "The government's policies on tackling rape are failing and failing badly," she said. Nearly 15% of respondents thought a woman would be partly responsible for being raped if she was known to have many sexual partners, and 8% totally responsible.
Men are marginally more likely to blame the victim than women, although in the case of drunkenness 5% of women thought a woman would be totally responsible if she were raped, compared to 3% of men.
Police recorded nearly 13,000 rapes last year, a figure thought to amount to only 15% of the true total since most rapes are never reported. The conviction rate for rape is 5.6% - the lowest ever recorded, with 741 cases resulting in conviction last year.
More outrage at Guardian Unlimited here.
2 comments:
I had a post about rape a few months ago. That passage is truely disturbing. And that women could think this about other women??? It's all very worrying.
I know! I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that there are people who actually still believe that "she was asking for it"! It's very worrying and very appalling.
And so is this.
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