\n<\/p>\n
You report that in the wake of Russell Brand\u2019s trial, the government pledged \u201cto examine calls to crack down on \u2018rape myths\u2019 in trials\u201d (Russell Brand suspected to have attacked at least 10 other women, 6 November). This is not the first time the treatment of women in trials for rape, and the perpetuation of rape myths, has been drawn to the attention of a Labour government.<\/p>\n
Sue Lees (1941-2002), a former colleague from the Polytechnic\/University of North London conducted research into the reporting of rape in the media and how it was treated within the English legal system in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
Sue\u2019s research clearly identified how the legal system systematically enabled rapists to escape justice, while both the judiciary and the media regularly stereotyped women as sexually provocative. Following publication of her book Carnal Knowledge: Rape on Trial in 1996, Sue helped influence members of the 1997 New Labour government to effect change to the legal process by limiting the evidence on a woman\u2019s sexual history in rape trials.<\/p>\n
In the 2002 updated edition of Carnal Knowledge, Sue highlighted the continuing problems in our adversarial system. Citing reforms in other countries, she argued the case for further radical reforms to reverse the imbalances of the judicial process and to create a system that would provide justice for victims without jeopardising the rights of defendants.<\/p>\n
How disappointing, therefore, over two decades later, to read of the current Labour government\u2019s ambitions to make changes to rape trials so that they \u201cdo not leave the woman feeling like she is on trial in court\u201d, as Andy Burnham put it, speaking to Times Radio. What has happened in the intervening years, given the amount of research evidence already available? Where does the blame lie for the continuation of such injustices, misrepresentations and myths? Like Lucy Powell MP, we found the rape myths and stereotypes deployed by the defence during Russell Brand\u2019s trial depressing \u2013 but sadly not shocking (Police receive further criminal allegations against Russell Brand, 10 November). To think the courts had \u201clong gone past that sort of culture\u201d is wishful thinking at best.<\/p>\n Our research and frontline experience show that rape myths and stereotypes are used in courtrooms across England and Wales, day in, day out \u2013 a systemic failing which compounds the trauma for those victim-survivors of sexual violence who have already navigated the difficult journey to trial.<\/p>\n The survivors who courageously came forward in this case had already endured sexual violence. For the defence to then subject them to attempts to blame, shame and discredit them is disgraceful. It also reinforces and amplifies these harmful beliefs in wider society \u2013 something that specialist support services like ours have been pushing against for decades.<\/p>\n Words of condemnation aren\u2019t enough. This case must now be a catalyst for meaningful action, so that no other victim-survivor is subjected to this treatment in future. It is right to question Russell Brand\u2019s Christian faith (\u2018He\u2019s manipulating its power\u2019: why did Russell Brand convert to Christianity?, 6 November). Conversion is meant to be a renewing of heart, mind and soul. In Brand\u2019s case, the public baptism he sought might have been accompanied by public repentance and a stated intention to make amends or restitution to the women he harmed and whose distress he saw. Perhaps prison will lead him to genuine conversion. This Christian forgiveness undoubtedly comes from Russell Brand\u2019s participation in the 12-step programme \u2013 heavily rooted in Christian terminology, although with its own big book.<\/p>\n My own experience of 15 months in Alcoholics Anonymous and Cocaine Anonymous showed plenty of \u201creformed\u201d men who had sought sobriety, but also forgiveness for crimes that really should have gone to court \u2013 crimes too severe to be washed away by completing the steps and making tea. Deliberately addicting young girls to drugs so they would work as prostitutes was just one I heard that was \u201cforgiven\u201d by the power of God\u00a0and the 12-step programme. Following the jailing of Russell Brand for rape and sexual assault, we are being told that the entertainment industry has many attackers lurking in plain sight. While this is probably true, I and other survivors of rape and sexual\u00a0violence worry that this focus somehow paints a\u00a0picture\u00a0that this one industry is an\u00a0anomaly \u2013 that other places don\u2019t suffer from\u00a0this blight.<\/p>\n In our experience, this is not true.\u00a0I am part of a panel of survivors convened by Arch Teesside who meet to improve attitudes and practices among service providers through research, presentations, and recommending changes from a\u00a0survivor\u2019s point of view.<\/p>\n While using the word \u201crape\u201d fully in the public sphere is a good thing (people often avoid using it), it is unacceptable to portray rape as a result of \u201cstars\u201d exercising their power at work. It happens across the board, as those on our panel know. Managers, CEOs and senior colleagues also have this imbalanced power at their disposal. Please highlight this: rape at work happens everywhere, not just places where celebrities work. Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You report that in the wake of Russell Brand\u2019s trial, the government pledged \u201cto examine calls to crack down on \u2018rape myths\u2019 in trials\u201d (Russell Brand suspected to have attacked at least 10 other women, 6 November). This is not the first time the treatment of women in trials for rape, and the perpetuation of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[243,2807,7505,12479,25424,358,4773,2131],"class_list":{"0":"post-52643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-brand","9":"tag-brands","10":"tag-faith","11":"tag-myths","12":"tag-questionable","13":"tag-rape","14":"tag-russell","15":"tag-trial"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Judy Evans<\/strong>
\n
Brighton, East Sussex<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
Katie Kempen<\/strong>
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Chief executive, Victim Support<\/em><\/p>\n
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Susanna Gridley <\/strong>
\n
London<\/em><\/p>\n
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Name and address supplied<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Name and address supplied<\/strong><\/p>\n