Women raped after accepting lift
Boy charged with raping girl, 12
Teen is jailed for raping tourist
Rapists jailed for horrific attack
Teenagers jailed over gang rape
Nicholas Corsellis, prosecuting, said: "She was ordered to calm down and stop being a child, to which she replied, 'But I am - I'm 14'."
The court heard that the girl realised the danger she was in and pleaded with the gang saying, "Imagine if I was your sister or mother".
Mr Corsellis added: "And in a sickening example of life on some estates in London there were clearly other men who were prepared to join in, waiting their turn rather than trying to stop the child being raped."
To put this into context:
And the conviction rate hasn't improved at all. Also in March 2009: "The government estimates that as many as 95% of rapes are never reported to the police at all. Of the rapes that were reported from 2007 to 2008, only 6.5% resulted in a conviction, compared with 34% of criminal cases in general. The majority of convictions for rape resulted from an admission of guilt by the defendant, whereas less than one quarter of all those charged with rape were convicted following a successful trial."
ETA: The cycle continues.
The court heard that the girl realised the danger she was in and pleaded with the gang saying, "Imagine if I was your sister or mother".
Mr Corsellis added: "And in a sickening example of life on some estates in London there were clearly other men who were prepared to join in, waiting their turn rather than trying to stop the child being raped."
To put this into context:
In June 2005, when the Met decided to do a review to find out why rape convictions are so low: Researchers found there was a "culture of scepticism" towards rape victims among police and prosecutors, which led victims to lose confidence in the system.
But in March 2009, it was discovered that not all the police are treating rape as a crime at all, in order to improve their numbers: "Officers are told all allegations of rape should be investigated, unless there is strong evidence the claim is false. But this policy was ignored in six of the Met's boroughs. One source said: "The object could have been a massaging of the figures or a misinterpretation of policy. There is some evidence of trying to keep the figures down.""
And the conviction rate hasn't improved at all. Also in March 2009: "The government estimates that as many as 95% of rapes are never reported to the police at all. Of the rapes that were reported from 2007 to 2008, only 6.5% resulted in a conviction, compared with 34% of criminal cases in general. The majority of convictions for rape resulted from an admission of guilt by the defendant, whereas less than one quarter of all those charged with rape were convicted following a successful trial."
With that in mind, there are a few things I want to point out about the above news stories.
1) All these stories appeared over several hours in one day, and are, obviously, only about rapes that have been reported. How many unreported rapes happened in the same time?
2) These stories all conform to the 'socially acceptable' understanding of rape as assault by a stranger who is then convicted - even though far more women are raped by someone they know (usually a husband or partner), and women who struggle through the 'culture of scepticism' and outright disbelief and disapproval in order to bring their cases to court are extremely unlikely to see it result in a conviction.
3) These perpetrators are young. Women have achieved equality? Feminism is unnecessary? Not while this cycle continues.
2) These stories all conform to the 'socially acceptable' understanding of rape as assault by a stranger who is then convicted - even though far more women are raped by someone they know (usually a husband or partner), and women who struggle through the 'culture of scepticism' and outright disbelief and disapproval in order to bring their cases to court are extremely unlikely to see it result in a conviction.
3) These perpetrators are young. Women have achieved equality? Feminism is unnecessary? Not while this cycle continues.
I have no idea how many people around me have been affected by rape, but the official statistic is 1 in 4, not considering people who have been affected by the rapes of their friends, sisters, partners or mothers. You make a joke about rape in a public place, and chances are that someone around you is going to be upset by it - but not be able to say a thing, because of the deeply personal nature of the crime, the moral prejudices still attached to it ("How much had you drunk? Had you been flirting with him?"), and not wanting to bring down the good mood of everyone around them. I can say from experience that if you tell people that their rape jokes are not funny, you will be told to lighten up and stop taking things so seriously, because it's only a joke, and hey, that girl found it funny so it's just because you're just a humourless feminist that you don't!
The fact that I could be raped, blamed for it and see no justice served through the legal system crosses my mind every single time I go out wearing a short skirt or low top, drink a lot, walk home by myself, and so on. The people who make rape jokes seem to feel that if they joke about other issues in a politically incorrect way then that makes it okay (equal opportunities irreverence or something) but rape is a part of my everyday life, and always will be, whether I'm physically affected by it or not. To hear it spoken about so lightly is upsetting to me, so I can't imagine how it must be for someone who has actually been raped, or directly affected by it.
And that's why I don't like rape jokes.
ETA: The cycle continues.
