We Can't Consent to This

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We Can't Consent To This is a campaign which aims to raise awareness surrounding the issues of violence typically committed during sexual intercourse, as well as campaigning to abolish the "rough sex" defence.

Contents

Campaign

The campaign was founded by Fiona Mackenzie in December 2018 in response to the trial decision in the murder of Natalie Connolly, the perpetrator was able to rely upon the "rough sex" defence and receive a lesser sentence of manslaughter. [1] This led Mackenzie and other volunteers to begin campaigning against the defence relied upon in trials relating to "rough sex" across the world, particularly the United Kingdom. The campaign is known for its petitions as well as discussions with Members of Parliament. Alongside advocating the abolishment of the defence, they are seeking to make Non Fatal Strangulation a specific offence under the Domestic Abuse Bill. [2]

We Can't Consent to This made a written submission to UK Parliament providing evidence on the Domestic Abuse Bill and its amendments for the outlawing of the "rough sex" defence which they claim are "needed now". [3]

Research

The campaign has worked with various researchers to uncover the issues surrounding the "rough sex" defence. In June 2020, the organisation published research regarding the success in claims of "rough sex" within England and Wales' judicial system. [4] In December 2020, they shared results from a research conducted by Bichard, Byrne, Saville & Coetzer on the damage which non-fatal strangulation causes. In their research, it was found that once a woman has been strangled, her chances of her subsequently being murdered rises by eight times. [5]

Response

Since the written submission to the UK Parliament regarding the amending of the Domestic Abuse Bill, Member of Parliament Harriet Harman has expressed her support towards the campaign and has called for a review of the cases involving the "rough sex" defence. In an interview with the BBC, Harman stated that "there's enough evidence of cases where [the Crown Prosecution Service] have taken as read the rough sex gone wrong defence and therefore not prosecuted." [6] The Centre for Women's Justice has shown similar support to the calls for reviewing such cases. [7]

In 2020, Justice Minister Naomi Long of Northern Ireland opened a consultation following the campaign, which aims to create a new law that prohibits the "rough sex" defence to circumstances involving ABH and more serious violence. [8]

68,000 people have since joined the campaign to end the "rough sex" defence, including the women's magazine Grazia, [9] and the internet forum Mumsnet. [10]

Related Research Articles

Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence that includes child sexual abuse, groping, rape, drug facilitated sexual assault, and the torture of the person in a sexual manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet Harman</span> British politician (born 1950)

Harriet Ruth Harman is a British politician and solicitor who was a Member of Parliament (MP) for over 40 years, from 1982 to 2024, making her one of the longest-serving MPs in British history. Harman latterly was MP for Camberwell and Peckham from 1997 to 2024, and previously was MP for Peckham from 1982 to 1997. A member of the Labour Party, she served in various Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet positions. In the 2024 Dissolution Honours, she was nominated for a life peerage.

Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing different behaviors, aspirations, and needs equally, regardless of gender.

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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in South Africa have the same legal rights as non-LGBT people. South Africa has a complex and diverse history regarding the human rights of LGBT people. The legal and social status of between 400,000 to over 2 million lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex South Africans has been influenced by a combination of traditional South African morals, colonialism, and the lingering effects of apartheid and the human rights movement that contributed to its abolition.

Equality Now is a non-governmental organization founded in 1992 to advocate for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women and girls. Equality Now works through public policy channels to create a just world for women and girls. Through a combination of regional partnerships, community mobilization and legal advocacy the organization works to encourage governments to adopt, improve and enforce laws that protect and promote women and girls' rights around the world.

Jane Longhurst was a British special-needs teacher and musician who was murdered by Graham Coutts on 14 March 2003. Longhurst's partly decomposed body was found burning in woodland in West Sussex on 19 April. Coutts, who was dating Longhurst's best friend, was a guitarist and part-time salesperson living in Brighton.

Restrictions on sexual activity involving minors in the United Kingdom and its predecessors have existed since medieval times. During the 1970s, there was some political advocacy in favour of significantly reducing the age of consent, supported by various 'youth liberation' organizations and mostly by members of the Paedophile Information Exchange. Meanwhile, over a similar time period, the unequal age of consent for straight and gay young people was campaigned against by the LGBT rights movement. More recently arguments have occasionally been made in favour of reducing the age of consent, generally to an earlier point in adolescence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equality Act 2010</span> UK law

The Equality Act 2010, often erroneously called the Equalities Act 2010, is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis of anti-discrimination law in mostly England, Scotland and Wales; some sections also apply to Northern Ireland. These consisted, primarily, of the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and three major statutory instruments protecting discrimination in employment on grounds of religion or belief, sexual orientation and age.

Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 is a law in the United Kingdom criminalising possession of what it refers to as "extreme pornographic images". The law came into force on 26 January 2009. The legislation was brought in following the murder of Jane Longhurst by a man who was said at the time of his trial to have had "extreme pornography" in his possession at the time of the death. The law has been more widely used than originally predicted, raising concerns as to whether the legislation is being used for prosecutions beyond the scope originally envisaged by parliament.

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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Queensland have advanced significantly from the late 20th century onwards, in line with progress on LGBT rights in Australia nationally. 2019 polling on gay rights consistently showed that even in regional areas, Queensland is no more conservative about the subject than any other states.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liz Saville Roberts</span> Welsh politician (born 1964)

Elizabeth Saville Roberts is a Welsh politician who has been the group leader of Plaid Cymru in the House of Commons since 2017. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dwyfor Meirionnydd since 2015.

After a sexual assault or rape, victims are often subjected to scrutiny and, in some cases, mistreatment. Victims undergo medical examinations and are interviewed by police. If there is a criminal trial, victims suffer a loss of privacy, and their credibility may be challenged. Victims may also become the target of slut-shaming, abuse, social stigmatization, sexual slurs and cyberbullying. These factors, contributing to a rape culture, are among some of the reasons that may contribute up to 80% of all rapes going unreported in the U.S, according to a 2016 study done by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Domestic violence and abuse in the United Kingdom are a range of abusive behaviours that occur within relationships. Domestic violence or abuse can be physical, psychological, sexual, financial or emotional. In UK laws and legislation, the term "domestic abuse" is commonly used to encompass various forms of domestic violence. Some specific forms of domestic violence and abuse are criminal offences. Victims or those at risk of domestic abuse can also be provided with remedies and protection via civil law.

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Rough sex murder defense, also known as the 50 Shades defense, is employed by some people accused of murdering a sexual partner, who claim that the death occurred because of injuries sustained during consensual sex. Advocacy group We Can't Consent To This has identified, between 1972 and 2020, 60 police suspects or defendants in the UK who have stated from the outset or later plead this defense, 45 percent of which resulted in a lesser charge, lighter sentence, acquittal, or the case not being pursued.

Betty Taylor is an Australian community advocate and domestic violence prevention campaigner.

Sexual consent plays an important role in laws regarding rape, sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence. In a court of law, whether or not the alleged victim had freely given consent, and whether or not they were deemed to be capable of giving consent, can determine whether the alleged perpetrator is guilty of rape, sexual assault or some other form of sexual misconduct.

On 28 March 2020, 70-year-old Anthony Williams of Cwmbran, Wales, strangled his 67-year-old wife Ruth to death. The following February, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility, and was acquitted of murder. His defence argued that he acted due to his mental state, which had been worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lesser charge, and the sentence of five years' imprisonment, was criticised by politicians and anti-domestic abuse activists.

Natalie Connolly was killed on 18 December 2016 during acts of very violent sexual intercourse. Her partner, John Broadhurst, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Despite Broadhurst's claims that she consented to the 40 injuries she sustained, he failed to call upon emergency services to treat her thus resulting in her bleeding to death.

References

  1. Anna, Moore (27 November 2019). ""There's a new level of anger": the women fighting to end the 'rough sex' defence". The Guardian .
  2. "Government publishes landmark domestic abuse bill". GOV.UK. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  3. "Domestic Abuse Bill (11th June 2020)". publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  4. "blog". We Can't Consent To This. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  5. Bichard, Byrne, Saville, Coetzer (December 2020). "The neuropsychological outcomes of non-fatal strangulation in domestic and sexual violence: A systematic review". Neuropsychological Rehabilitation .{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Price, Hannah (8 July 2020). "'The police said it wasn't rape it was rough sex'". BBC News . Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  7. ""We'll campaign until the "rough sex" defence can no longer be used to blame women for their own assault or death"". Centre for Women's Justice. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  8. "Justice Minister launches public consultation on Consent to serious harm for sexual gratification: not a defence". Department of Justice . 9 November 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  9. Evans, Rhiannon (29 April 2021). "Your campaign to end the 'rough sex' defence has become law". Grazia . Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  10. Roberts, Justine (17 June 2020). "Mumsnet joins We Can't Consent To This campaign". Mumsnet . Retrieved 3 May 2021.