A new advertising campaign is set to challenge assumptions that women ‘deserve’ to be raped if they are wearing revealing clothing or have been drinking. 

The £200,000 ‘This is not an invitation to rape me’ campaign has been developed after Scottish Government research in 2007 showed that 27 per cent of respondents think a  woman can be partly responsible for being raped if she was drunk at the time of the attack and 32 per cent say there should be some burden of responsibility if the woman is flirting.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said:

“It is hard to believe that in a modern Scotland there are people who still think that if a woman is dressed in a certain way or has been drinking it's her own fault if she is raped. Similarly, people who believe that a woman can't be raped by her husband or someone else she knows are wrong. A person doesn't have to use physical force to make it rape. We need to make sure that is clear.  That is why we are currently consulting on changes to the legal framework to make sure it is up to date and robust.”

Sandy Brindley from Rape Crisis Scotland said:

“Rape is a crime which can have a devastating effect, yet far too often women are blamed for what has happened.  Studies into public attitudes consistently show that many people blame women for rape if we have been flirting, are dressed in revealing clothing or are known to have had many sexual partners. 

“What this means is that at least some of the people sitting in juries in rape trials are likely to hold these kinds of attitudes.  Efforts have been made in the past few years to improve legal responses to rape.  Legal change on its own, however, is not enough.  What is needed is concerted effort to challenge women blaming attitudes to rape within Scottish society.”

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