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[morganmuffle]

You know I think it's a great thing that the Conservatives are looking at the laws and conviction rates surrounding rape and looking to improve them BUT I would question whether the way to frame this debate is to suggest that it's a new problem brought on by "moral collapse" or it now being cool to sexualise women. I'm fairly certain there wasn't a

Comments

[catilinarian]

I think you're absolutely right. Basically, rape conviction rates are not incredibly low because modern society is debauched or because the modern media is too sexualised (although I'd argue that the latter is a problem in some ways): they're incredibly low because we haven't figured out how to bring them up to match the rising rates of rape REPORTING. (Try saying that five times fast.) It's much easier now to report a rape than it was in past eras. The police are now trained to take such reports seriously; there are sympathetic doctors and counsellors readily available; acquaintance rape, date rape, and even marital rape are taken seriously (I don't know when marital rape was criminalised in Britain, but in the US it was as late as 1978); and there's much, much less of a social stigma than there was in pretty much any of the previous, more "morally upright" periods the Tories like to invoke. Now the task is to modernise the laws governing rape prosecutions so that they're more in line with modernised policing approaches to the

[morganmuffle]

Yes. It's not much good making it easier to report a rape if after that the victim is abandoned by the courts and the legal system and made to feel they've done something wrong. I understand that there are cases where it is difficult to judge whether the man or woman is telling the truth but the rate of conviction is so horrendous, even if some women lie about rape surely nobody believes that 19 out of every 20 reports are false?! (well,sadly what with my lack of faith in humanity and all I'm sure some people do believe that but really

[morganmuffle]

It is a difficult line yes but... *ponders how to word this best

[b_liz]

When I was a student, one of my friends was date raped. She never reported it, because she felt guilty as she'd gone out with the guy knowing he already had a girlfriend.

Have you seen The Accused?

[morganmuffle]

*nods*

It is really hard and some people just don't seem to understand that reporting rape isn't just like reporting other crimes and going to trial certainly isn't.

I haven't seen the film but I know it's basic story.

[b_liz]

It is totally different. Especially as it's so hard to prove in some cases. And it's a different sort of crime from most (if not all) others.

Interestingly, in my emails this morning was one with a link to a report about violence in relationships among teenagers in the USA.

Physical abuse within the context of a dating relationship affects 8.8% of female and 8.9% of male adolescents. Some 70% of girls and 52% of boys reported injuries as a result of that violence, according to a national study presented here at the American Public Health Association 135th Annual Meeting.

Then later it says

There was a trend toward increased violence as students grew older, particularly among boys.

I did have Thoughts about it, but they have Run Away. Thought I'd share it anyway though, in case you have any.

And I can lend the dvd if you'd like to see it.