This Is Not An Invitation To Rape Me

Are you saying that there is ever such a thing as an invite to rape?

The campaign is saying exactly the opposite: no one ever invites rape. Unfortunately surveys consistently show that a significant proportion of the society believes that women are at least partly to blame for rape in certain circumstances – because of how they are dressed, how much they have had to drink, whether they have been flirting with someone or have had many sexual partners.

This takes responsibility away from where it belongs – with the perpetrator. With this campaign, Rape Crisis Scotland wants to directly confront attitudes within society that blame women for rape, and encourage people to question whether they are willing to believe that women can ever provoke rape.

Why does your campaign only feature women? What about men who are raped?

This campaign is specifically about attitudes to women. Basically, the campaign challenges the idea that women are in any way “asking for it”. The same notions don’t apply to men in the same way – when did you last hear someone commenting that a man was “asking for it” because he was dressed in revealing clothing?

This is not to say male rape is not a serious issue that requires to be addressed. Rape Crisis Scotland believes that there is a need for a more general campaign about rape, to raise awareness about rape and the issue of consent, including raising awareness of the fact that men can be raped.

It would make sense for a campaign of this nature to be linked to changes in the law which are currently going through the Scottish Parliament – at present in Scotland the definition of rape only applies to women, with what we understand to be male rape being charged under indecent assault or sodomy.

A new Bill going through Parliament – if passed – will extend this definition to include male rape, a change supported by Rape Crisis Scotland.

What about sexual violence within same sex relationships?

This campaign is targeted specifically at public attitudes to rape which blame women for rape, and is focused on four main myths: a woman raped while wearing revealing clothing is to blame for leading someone on; a woman raped after consuming alcohol is to blame for not considering her own security; a woman raped after consenting to any level of sexual activity is to blame for ‘giving mixed signals’; and finally that women can’t be raped by their husbands or partners.

The images dealing with the first two myths (i.e. the woman walking down the street and the young women out drinking) are not exclusive to heterosexual women. There is no evidence we are aware of which says that the concept of women “asking for it” or “leading someone on” is problematic in relation to societal attitudes towards lesbian relationships.

The women in your campaign are all quite young and stereotypically attractive. Are you saying that these are the only women who are raped?

The genesis of the campaign from its origins in America in the 1990’s was that it took the kind of glamorized images of women, which are frequently used to sell products, and subverted them to say something really powerful about rape. The Scottish campaign is based on the same premise, which is why they are quite
glossy/glamorous.

Rape Crisis Scotland is keen, however, to ensure that women of all ages are included in the campaign, and will be making sure that future phases of the campaign include images of older women.

Why have you included an image of a couple on their wedding day? Isn’t this undermining marriage?

Rape Crisis Scotland has included this image in the campaign as we want to broaden people’s understanding of the range of circumstances in which rape can happen. Although people often think of rape as being something carried out by strangers, the majority of rapes involve someone known to the women. In 2002 the UK Home Office published the findings of a British Crime Survey to which 6,944 women had responded.

Nearly half (45%) of rapes reported to the survey were committed by perpetrators who were victims’ partners at the time of the attack. Strangers were responsible for only 8% of rapes reported to the survey.

Rape by partners or ex-partners is just as serious and no less distressing than rape by a stranger. Rape in marriage was criminalised as recently as 1989, and some people still believe that a woman can’t be raped by her husband/partner. What is more likely to undermine marriage: efforts to raise awareness that rape in marriage is a reality, or the fact that rape in marriage exists but society isn’t willing to acknowledge it as a problem?

In the real world, women need to take care not to put themselves in risky or vulnerable situations. Are you not giving women a dangerous/unrealistic message?

Rape is peculiar amongst other crimes in the level of responsibility placed on the victim to avoid the assault/s. Far too often in any discussion about rape the focus is on the women’s behavior, meaning that the perpetrator becomes invisible. Often these attitudes centre on the issue of alcohol, with women who are raped while drinking blamed for putting themselves in risky or vulnerable situations.

Are we really willing to state as a society that women should be restricted to drinking a certain number of units of alcohol to make sure that they aren’t raped? This is not to deny that we have problems with binge drinking in Scotland amongst both men and women, and that we all have a personal responsibility to look
after ourselves.

Is it really fair, however, to actually hold a woman responsible for being raped if she is drunk at the time of the attack?

Aren’t these images all very urban? This is a rural area and none of these look as though they would relate to people here.

All the campaign images were shot in Edinburgh, but care was taken to make sure that the images did not appear exclusively urban, as it is important to Rape Crisis Scotland that the campaign feels relevant to people across Scotland.

Prior to launching the campaign, Rape Crisis Scotland commissioned a company to test the campaign, by seeking the views of a range of people across Scotland, using a mix of ages, sex, socio-economic class and urban/rural. Focus groups were held in rural as well as urban areas, and the feedback Rape Crisis Scotland received was that people from rural areas did identify with the images.

Although one image in particular – the one of a woman wearing a revealing top walking down the street – was identified by people as an urban looking image, this did not seem to alienate people from the message of the image. This is possibly because these kinds of images are commonly used in magazines and advertising, so most people will be familiar with the look and feel of them.

Rape Crisis Scotland has commissioned an external evaluation of the campaign, and the evaluation will be actively seeking the views of people who live in rural areas about the campaign.

Why aren’t you tackling child sexual abuse?

Rape Crisis Scotland has taken the decision to focus on the rape of adult women in this campaign. We did consider including the rape of children in the campaign, as it is not uncommon to hear of abusers justifying their behavior by placing the responsibility onto the child: she/he initiated it/acted provocatively.

However, we came to a decision that child abuse would be better dealt with in a specific campaign. Generally speaking in a poster campaign, marketing advice is to run with a limited number of images so that the message is not too diluted.

Given the key myths we wanted to challenge in this campaign, we would necessarily have had only one image in which to deal with the many and complex issues relating to child abuse. We therefore took the decision that including child sexual abuse in this particular campaign would not be the most helpful approach.

The woman in the taxi definitely looks as though she is in control – isn’t it a bit unfair/one-sided saying that women are always victims?

With the taxi image, Rape Crisis Scotland wants to confront in a very direct way the notion that a woman can say ‘no’ to sex at any time. The woman is deliberately depicted in this image to seem to be sexually in control, and proactively involved in the intimacy depicted.

Imagine that she has met him in a club, likes him and is on the way home with him with the intention of having sex. She changes her mind – maybe because of
something he says or does or just because she has had second thoughts. Is she to blame if he coerces her?

Do we really believe that male sexuality is so uncontrollable that a man will be provoked beyond reason by the scenario depicted in this image? Isn’t this an insult to men?

Don’t you think this will just encourage more false allegations of rape?

There is no evidence that the rate of false allegations for rape is higher than for any other crime. The consequences of making an allegation of rape are serious and the legal process traumatic. Why would someone put themselves through this without just cause?

Are you not just scaring women/people?

Rape is a serious social issue. It is estimated that 6% of women have experienced rape and 24% have been sexually assaulted (Walby & Allen,
2004). Attitudes which blame women for rape can have a significantly detrimental effect: they can stop women telling anyone about their experience, or reporting the incident/s to the police, due to fear of being blamed for what has happened.

There is also serious concern about the impact that these may be having on the ability of women who have been raped to secure justice: rape juries are made up of members of the public, and statistically it is likely that there will be people on the jury in a rape trial who hold attitudes which blame women for rape if they are drinking, dressed in revealing clothing etc.

Ignoring the issue will not help – only by confronting these attitudes directly are we likely to achieve the kind of shift in attitudes which is
needed.

Do you think that it is appropriate that young children will be able to see this campaign, by walking past billboards or other poster displays?

We appreciate that the issue of rape is one that is difficult for parents or carers to have to consider explaining to children. However, references to rape are common in our newspapers and on television, and it is likely that children will come across it one way or another.

Do you really think you will change deep-seated attitudes in one campaign?

Attitudes towards women who have been raped are often based on notions of appropriate female behaviour, particularly in relation to sexual matters. These attitudes are deep seated, and challenging them will require a long-term commitment.

Rape Crisis Scotland believes that this campaign is an important start in this process – our main aim is to create debate about how blame is attributed in rape cases. We have commissioned an external evaluation of this campaign, and this will be used to inform the development of future campaigning and awareness raising work on this issue.

–Contact details–

Rape Crisis Scotland

T: 0141 331 4180
E: info@thisisnotaninvitationtorapeme.co.uk
W: www.thisisnotaninvitationtorapeme.co.uk

Background to the campaign

This Is Not An Invitation To Rape Me was created in 1994 in New York City by Charles Hall and Eric McClellan in response to the attempted rape of a dear, female, friend who would not press charges for fear of the harsh judicial process and the public humiliation associated with accusing someone of rape. Posters, stickers, public service announcements and an art installation, were created to attack the perception, when a woman is raped, she asked for it, deserved it or wanted it.

In 1995, thanks to the introduction by Dr. Susan Sorenson of the U.C.L.A. School of Public Health, the campaign was donated to the L.A. Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW). It ran throughout Los Angeles and was included in U.C.L.A.’s and Cal State Northridge’s freshman orientation program. The campaign was later shared with CALCASA and ran throughout the state of California. For the past 14 years, LACAAW, (now known as Peace Over Violence) has used the campaign locally and shared the work with organizations around the country.

The launch of the campaign in Scotland through Rape Crisis Scotland, represents the first time the campaign has been shared with another country. The revised executions are based on a simple insight and design by Graham Clifford of Graham Clifford Design and the creative direction of Charles Hall, a Professor at the VCU Brandcenter in Richmond, Virginia.

According to Graham and Charles, “The ‘This is not an invitation to rape me’ campaign is a cry for justice.”

The work is the result of the collaborations and contributions of art directors, Karen Pfaff, Adrian Hilton, Jennifer Maravillas, Karen Land, Dan Case and Jillian Dresser. All photography is courtesy of Julie Cerise – nanoublissgliss.livejournal.com and juliecerise.carbonmade.com

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December 1st 2008, World AIDS Day

This world AIDS day and throughout December put your foot down and demand an end to violence against women in the developing world.

A girl born in South Africa has a higher chance of being raped than of learning to read. With 5 million South Africans living with HIV the risk of HIV infection for women is extremely high.

More than 15 million women are living with HIV globally. Every half minute another becomes infected. Widespread violence against women and girls increases their risk of HIV infection.

Violence also increases women’s risk indirectly. The threat of violence deters many women from refusing sex or insisting on condoms, even when they suspect their partner is HIV positive.

In their new strategy on HIV and AIDS, the UK government acknowledged these problems. Now, we need to move them from acknowledgement to action.

Put your foot down in solidarity and tell the UK government that it’s time to take action on violence against women and HIV and AIDS.

Sign our petition today.