RAPE?

In this day and age: Can we believe this?

A poll has found one third of people think a woman is
at least partly to blame for being raped if she is
flirtatious, and a quarter if she is drunk or wears
revealing clothing.
One woman, raped at the age of 20, told the
BBC News website she never reported it for fear
it would not be taken seriously.
This is a shocking statistic but I was not surprised.
Public perception is affected by the way rape is
treated by the justice system. You see it in the press,
you hear it from other people.
One third of people think that and that includes the
judges and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
If the figures there were different, we would see
that in the conviction rate.
I just felt it would be too much of an ordeal to
go through. I wouldn't have wanted to talk to
the police, I didn't have any faith that they
would take me seriously.
I also knew the conviction rate was low and it's
lower now. I didn't hold much hope that it would
be taken seriously. A lot of people don't get past
that stage.
'I knew him'
It was someone I knew, we had had a drink. He
was a friend. We had been out, all of us together.
I had been drinking, I had kissed him as well.
That was as far as I wanted it to go.
I was studying at the time. I was 20.
A lot of women for one reason or another are
vulnerable and that's something that the police
should take into consideration. It wasn't what
I would have thought rape was. I know now that
most people are raped by someone they know.
It's not the 'stranger danger' that people think
happens, bushes and knives. I didn't know that
- it's not something that was ever covered at any
stage of my life, there's no education
at school. I didn't know the statistics.

Record considered
I few years down the line I wondered if it was worth
saying something, to have it on file. I just really didn't
have any faith that I wouldn't be laughed out of that
police station.
The more I look at it and the way they don't bother
to gather evidence or treat it as a crime, it really
wasn't an option.
I didn't feel that I could tell anyone, never mind going
to what I think was a very unsympathetic police force.
A friend was kind enough to take me to a doctor and
I went along to get some therapy. She felt she had
supported me as much as she could but I needed
professional support.
I just wasn't coping at that point. I wasn't sleeping,
I was suffering terrible nightmares, couldn't cope
with crowds, getting panic attacks, flashbacks.
Blame each other
The sexism in the justice system needs to be tackled.
As long as the police are getting away with not taking
it seriously things are not going to improve.
They need to be held accountable, for the way they
treat women when they report rape, and do their job
properly, gather evidence and make sure the
resources are going into that area.
The police and CPS seem to blame each other
all the time but nobody does anything about it.
Still a lot of things happen that aren't meant to
- women being questioned on their sexual
history in court.
The CPS drop a lot of cases for what seems like
no good reason. It seems they are on the side of
the man and they don't want to push it through
and take it seriously; they disbelieve women.
LINK:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4458122.stm

PREDUDICE IS EVERYWERE!
NO MEANS NO
No matter when, where, why.