Rape Crisis England and Wales

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Rape Crisis England and Wales
Purpose Stopping sexual violence
Headquarters Leeds, England
Location
Services Rape crisis centre
Website www.rapecrisis.org.uk

Rape Crisis England and Wales is the national umbrella organisation for Rape Crisis Centres across England and Wales. [1] As a registered charity, Rape Crisis also works to raise awareness of sexual violence and campaign for change. [1]

Contents

Services

Rape Crisis runs a freephone helpline for people who want to talk about what has happened to them. Specialist support is also available at Rape Crisis Centres which are located throughout the UK. Rape Crisis is independent of the government and criminal justice system, and its services are available irrespective of whether or not the person wants to report the assault. In fact, only around 10% of the people who use Rape Crisis services also report the assault to the police. [2]

Impact of Rape Crisis services

Rape and sexual violence affects a significant proportion of the population. In the UK around 1 in 4 women (24%) are sexually assaulted during their lifetime, and there are about 80,000 incidents of rape or attempted rape every year. [3] A study by Durham University [4] found that Rape Crisis centres are highly effective in supporting women who have been sexually assaulted. Nicole Westmarland and colleagues asked women who had used Rape Crisis centres about the ways in which the support they received had helped them in their lives. The number of people who said that they felt in control of their life doubled following Rape Crisis counselling, and mental health symptoms such as flashbacks and panic attacks were alleviated in around a third of the women who had initially reported these problems. [4]

Rape Crisis: Responding to Sexual Violence

Rape Crisis: Responding to Sexual Violence, by Helen Jones and Kate Cook [5] charts the history of the Rape Crisis movement, from its great successes in supporting victim-survivors of sexual violence, to its significant losses as the number of Rape Crisis centres has dwindled. In the preface, former Chair of Rape Crisis Nicole Westmarland describes the book as an opportunity for people outside the Rape Crisis movement to understand its work and motivations. She describes Rape Crisis' journey as simultaneously depressing and inspiring. On the one hand the movement by its very nature highlights the ubiquitous nature of rape, and many Rape Crisis centres face a continuous battle to secure adequate funds; yet on the other hand Rape Crisis acts as a testament to the bravery of victim-survivors of sexual assault, and the strength of those who work to support them. [6]

The Crisis in Rape Crisis

In 1984 there were 68 Rape Crisis centres in the UK, [2] in 2010 this number had fallen to 39. [7] Many Rape Crisis Centres are severely underfunded, with only 1 in 5 centres managing to attain the full funding that they require. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

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A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objective, such as murder, assault, rape and assassination, as well as crimes in which violence is used as a method of coercion or show of force, such as robbery, extortion and terrorism. Violent crimes may, or may not, be committed with weapons. Depending on the jurisdiction, violent crimes may be regarded with varying severities from homicide to harassment. There have been many theories regarding heat being the cause of an increase in violent crime. Theorists claim that violent crime is persistent during the summer due to the heat, further causing people to become aggressive and commit more violent crime.

Some victims of rape or other sexual violence incidents are male. It is estimated that approximately one in six men were sexually abused as children. Historically, rape was thought to be, and defined as, a crime committed solely against females. This belief is still held in some parts of the world, but rape of males is now commonly criminalized and has been subject to more discussion than in the past.

Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion, act to traffic a person, regardless of the relationship to the victim. It occurs in times of peace and armed conflict situations, is widespread, and is considered to be one of the most traumatic, pervasive, and most common human rights violations.

Rape is a traumatic experience that affects the victim in a physical, psychological, and sociological way. Even though the effects and aftermath of rape differ among victims, individuals tend to suffer from similar issues found within these three categories. Long-term reactions may involve the development of coping mechanisms that will either benefit the victim, such as social support, or inhibit their recovery. Seeking support and professional resources may assist the victim in numerous ways.

Rape crisis centers (RCCs) are community-based organizations affiliated with the anti-rape movement that work to help victims of rape, sexual abuse, and sexual violence. Central to a community's rape response, RCCs provide a number of services, such as victim advocacy, crisis hotlines, community outreach, and education programs. As social movement organizations, they seek to change social beliefs and institutions, particularly in terms of how rape is understood by medical and legal entities and society at large. There is a great deal of diversity in terms of how RCCs are organized, which has implications for their ideological foundations, roles in their communities, and the services they offer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rape</span> Type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse without consent

Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person who is incapable of giving valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability, or is below the legal age of consent. The term rape is sometimes used interchangeably with the term sexual assault.

Intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) deals with sexual violence within the context of domestic violence. Intimate partner sexual violence is defined by any unwanted sexual contact or activity by an intimate partner in order to control an individual through fear, threats, or violence. Women are the primary victims of this type of violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Initiatives to prevent sexual violence</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicole Westmarland</span>

Nicole Westmarland is an academic and activist in the area of violence against women. She is currently a professor at the University of Durham, where she researches rape, domestic violence and prostitution. With Geetanjali Gangoli, she has edited two books: International Approaches to Rape, and International Approaches to Prostitution: Law and Policy in Europe and Asia. Originally a taxi driver, Westmarland’s first publication focused upon security issues for female taxi drivers, following her finding that female drivers were significantly more likely to face sexual harassment from customers than their male counterparts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clare McGlynn</span>

Clare Mary Smith McGlynn is a Professor of Law at Durham University in the UK. She specialises in the legal regulation of pornography, image-based sexual abuse, cyberflashing, online abuse, violence against women, and gender equality in the legal profession. In 2020, she was appointed an Honorary KC in recognition of her work on women's equality in the legal profession and shaping new criminal laws on extreme pornography and image-based sexual abuse. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Lund University, Sweden, in 2018 in recognition of the international impact of her research on sexual violence and she is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She is a member of the UK Parliament's Independent Expert Panel hearing appeals in cases of sexual misconduct, bullying and harassment against MPs. She has given evidence before Scottish, Northern Irish and UK Parliaments on how to reform laws on sexual violence and online abuse, as well as speaking to policy audiences across Europe, Asia and Australia. In November 2019, she was invited to South Korea to share international best practice in supporting victims of image-based sexual abuse and she has worked with Facebook, TikTok and Google to support their policies on non-consensual intimate images.

Elizabeth A. Kelly CBE is a British professor and director of the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU), London Metropolitan University, former head of the, now defunct, Women's National Commission, and co-chair, along with Marai Larasi, of the End Violence Against Women Coalition.

End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) is a UK-based coalition of individuals and organisations which campaigns to end all forms of violence against women. It was founded in 2005 and became a registered charity 31 March 2015.

Wellington Rape Crisis is a support centre for survivors of rape and sexual abuse, their families and friends. It was founded in 1977 as part of a wave of foundations across New Zealand in the early to mid 1970s. Their work includes advocacy, education for public and counselling for survivors. In 2008 Wellington Rape Crisis received charitable status from the Charities Commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual assault of LGBT persons</span>

Sexual assault of LGBT people, also known as sexual and gender minorities (SGM), is a form of violence that occurs within the LGBT community. While sexual assault and other forms of interpersonal violence can occur in all forms of relationships, it is found that sexual minorities experience it at rates that are equal to or higher than their heterosexual counterparts. There is a lack of research on this specific problem for the LGBT population as a whole, but there does exist a substantial amount of research on college LGBT students who have experienced sexual assault and sexual harassment.

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Rape Crisis Scotland is a charity which provides a national rape crisis helpline and email support for anyone affected by sexual violence, no matter when or how it happened. There are 17 local centres across Scotland.

Sue Lees was an English academic, activist, feminist and writer. She was a lecturer on social work at the Middlesex Polytechnic and the University of York in the 1960s before working as professor of women's studies at the Polytechnic of North London from 1976 to 1993. Lees helped co-establish the Women's Studies Network (UK) Association and the first undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree course in women's studies in the United Kingdom. She was Polytechnic of North London's centre for research in ethnicity and gender between 1993 and 1997. Lees authored five books between 1986 and 1997 and influenced the 1997 New Labour government to change how women were treated at rape trials. She consulted the Channel 4 television series Dispatches on programmes on rape.

References

  1. 1 2 Rapecrisis.org.uk
  2. 1 2 3 Women's Resource Centre and Rape Crisis England and Wales, Women's Resource Centre (2008). The Crisis in Rape Crisis: A survey of Rape Crisis (England and Wales) centres (PDF) (Report).
  3. Walby, S.; Allen, J. (2004). Domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking: Findings from the British Crime Survey (PDF) (Report). London: Home Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011.
  4. 1 2 Westmarland, N.; Alderson, S.; Kirkham, L. (2012). The health, mental health and well-being benefits of Rape Crisis counselling (Report). Durham: Durham University and Northern Rock Foundation. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  5. Jones, H.; Cook, K. (2008). Rape Crisis: Responding to Sexual Violence. Dorset: Russell House Publishing Ltd. ISBN   978-1-905541-27-0.
  6. Westmarland, N. (2008). "Preface". In Jones, H.; Cook, K. (eds.). Rape Crisis: Responding to Sexual Violence. Dorset: Russell House Publishing Ltd. pp. x. ISBN   978-1-905541-27-0.
  7. Kelly, Annie (6 January 2010). "A fight for rape survivors". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 September 2012.