RAPE CRISIS CENTRE
RAPE CRISIS CENTRE
P.O. Box 42
London N6 5BU
United Kingdom
"Our definition of rape is much wider than that of the law. We say that any unwanted, forced or coerced sexual attention is a form of rape. While on the whole we have dealt more with attacks on women which are at present recognised as rape or sexual assault, we feel that it is important to consider the widest possible range. All women who feel that they have been forced to take part in a sexual situation should feel that we are open to them and will treat their feelings with equal care and gravity.
"In a society where man is seen as initiator and woman as consenter, aggressive and passive, predator and prey, wolf and chick, then rape is not abnormal. Obviously some rapists are clearly very disturbed but they make up 2 to 2l/2 % of convicted rapists. Rape is the logical and extreme end of the spectrum of male/female relationships. It brutally opposes a woman's right to be self-powered and sexually self-determined, and is totally unacceptable".
In Britain, the first rape crisis centre to be set up was in London. The Rape Counseling and Research Project opened the Centre on 15th March 1976 in Haringey, North London. They had become a registered charity and they could receive non-taxable funds, and they had managed to negotiate for a house with the Department of Environment.
The group which opened and ran the centre had developed from an informal group of about 40 women who met to discuss rape with a view to "doing something about it". They were housewives, lawyers, journalists, a couple of doctors, students, counselors, nurses, unemployed, some married, or living with people, some single, some with children. The one and-a-half years during which they met before opening the centre was dedicated to discussing and examining their own motivations and priorities, in laying the groundwork for their position vis-a-vis reporting to the police, counseling, the law and reform, the treatment of rape in the press; current medical practice etc., and in acquiring premises, funds and charity status.
The centre now operates a 24-hour service run by two paid workers during weekdays and by volunteers at night and weekends on a rota basis. More than 16 women are involved in volunteer counseling. The aims of the centre are:
1. To provide emergency legal, medical and emotional counseling by having a 24-hour phone service.
2. To provide a supportive, calm and sympathetic environment for the woman.
3. To train women to be able to cope with the problems of women who have been raped.
4. To set up a coordinated group of contacts in different geographical areas who would be willing to personally meet and counsel raped women and accompany them to
hospital/police/doctor and court.
5. To research the pattern and incidence of rape locally and nationally.
6. To publish informational and educational material to destroy the current myths about rape.
7. To liaise with those community services which come into contact with raped women.
8. To help women equip themselves with a mental and physical attitude towards rape which would lessen the possibility of future victimisation and provide them with the basic skills of self-defence.
The activities, objectives and experiences of the centre are extremely clearly set out in the two annual reports so far (1977 and 1978), and ISIS strongly recommends groups elsewhere to use their information as a resource. The 1977 report goes into considerable detail on counseling: methods of counseling, problems and reactions of raped women, counselor training, the problems of recruitment of volunteer trainees. It gives a good evaluation of counseling training and points to the need for a structured approach. The group is preparing a training guide to give necessary practical information to new counselors.
The importance of research into all aspects of rape is clearly stressed:
"As well as providing a counseling service, we are concerned to promote serious and detailed research into rape in the British Isles. Through research we intend
to provide a factual basis for public information and education.
... The myths surrounding rape are widely subscribed to and deeply held. They are a true reflection of contemporary attitudes towards women, and factual evidence to destroy these myths is a necessary part of any meaningful education of the public."
The report also examines the influence of the media, its biased approach to raped women - an attitude which contributes greatly to reinforcing the idea that rape is not a serious crime — and the way in which the media has treated the Rape Crisis Centre.
" Considerable time has been devoted to the discussion of media treatment of rape. Before we opened, two unpublished research studies on the myths perpetrated
by the media and the comparative style and content of rape reporting were completed (Rape and the Mass Media: a content analysis" by Sue Lines, and "Rape as
Entertainment" by C M . Roberts). The juxtaposition of a rape story and a "daily pin-up" was not unusual. Raped women often fell into the category of "buxom blonde" and rapists are without exception "sex-starved" and "maniacal". Rapists were on the whole "rightly acquitted" and an element of blame ascribed to the woman. Although there had been a "gentleman's agreement" with the Press Council not to publish raped women's names this was not always observed. Our research showed that the media, with few exceptions published sensational, distorted images of rape and its components, and upheld the many anti-female myths with the intent of providing vicarious entertainment". "Our policy is not to introduce raped women to the press and media; not to divulge internal information about the Centre, its counselors and supporters unless we approve of its use; to be as helpful as possible but to avoid giving out factually unsupported opinions: to reduce the level of sensationalism and hysteria
surrounding rape. Serious journalists have respected our policy".
Sections on the law and the police give a good idea of the kinds of problems we face as women combatting rape, and the way it is currently dealt with in society. Several specific cases of the way in which the police treat raped women are given at the end of the report. The following is just one example.
A 29-year old married woman was raped after being beaten in the groin, chest and back with a shoe by a friend of one of her girlfriends. The rapist, a seemingly respectable and educated middle-class man, threatened that if she told anyone he would come back and murder her children. The woman was so terrified that she told no-one for twelve hours and only plucked up courage to tell the police two days after. She eventually decided that the only way to protect her children was to tell the police and, with the support of one of our counselors, approached them with the intention of informing them but not necessarily proceeding with a prosecution. Having informed the police the case was taken out of her hands and the police said they were duty bound to prosecute. She gave a lengthy statement and visited the scene of the crime with detectives. She had washed and changed her clothing and so was not given a medical examination. (We were later to find out that there is a slim but useful chance of picking up forensic evidence up to a week after the rape, as long as the woman has not had intercourse with anyone since the rape; immobile sperm can be picked up from the cervical canal).
Two days after, the accused man was picked up, questioned and released within a few hundred yards of the woman's home. The police arranged to meet the woman at her home and question her again. It was agreed that our counselor should be there but when the police turned up early the woman felt very threatened and refused access until the counselor arrived. When the police requestioned her their attitude had changed completely. They said that they didn't believe her story, that the alleged rapist was a very nice man and wouldn't do something like that, and that the painful and marked bruising on her groin, breasts and back was either "the result of rough love play", self-inflicted, or that her husband had done it in a fit of jealousy. They left saying that they expected to hear that she was dropping the case and added that if the allegation proved to be unfounded it would lead to a prosecution for wasting police time.
The raped woman took legal advice about making a complaint but had a breakdown before she could complete the process. Six months later she is still receiving psychiatric help and wants to put the whole thing behind her. There is absolutely no doubt in our minds that the police treatment in this case was a central cause of her breakdown.
We do not view the use of the threat of prosecution for wasting police time lightly. In this case, where the accused had actually been questioned, the police would have been compelled to prove their case, the raped woman would have had a defence, the alleged rapist would have been a witness, and the police would have been closely questioned on their reasons and motivations. In all cases we see this type of pressure as no more than an empty but powerful threat.
In this case the police dropped the prosecution.
Finally, there are sections on self-defense and compensation, and a useful reading list. This is a highly recommended resource booklet which not only gives practical information, but also shows the measure of organisation and committment behind women building up their own initiatives which help other women, at the same time as pressuring governments, local authorities, the media and the public generally to take rape seriously, and to deal with it.