56% of Britons believe rape victims partly to blame for attacks

MORE than half of Britons believe some rape victims should take responsibility for being attacked, research suggested yesterday.

In a new poll, 56% of those questioned felt that there were certain circumstances where the victim should be held partly accountable.

Of those, 28% thought people who wore revealing clothes should take some of the blame if they were sexually assaulted.

Among women, 23% said if someone danced provocatively at a nightclub they should be held partly responsible, and 15% said the same if they had accepted a drink from their attacker.

The research, called Wake Up To Rape, was carried out to mark the 10th anniversary of the Havens, which runs sexual assault referral centres in London.

Dr Jan Welch, clinical director at the Haven in Camberwell, south-east London, said: “Unfortunately, women have bought into the idea that sometimes the rape victim is to blame. Under no circumstances is a woman at fault for being raped.

“Coping with the emotional trauma of rape or sexual assault is made even harder when the victim is made to feel responsible for what’s happened.”

The poll of more than 1,000 people living in London showed that 18% of those questioned thought most rape claims were false.

It also found that 23% of women and 15% of men had been made to have sex against their will.

When asked what action they would take if they were raped, one in 25 said they would do nothing. The most common reason was feeling ashamed.

Many people took risks when it came to personal safety, particularly those aged 18 to 24.

Nearly half of those asked had walked home via back streets on their own (46%), while 26% had left their drink unattended in a bar.

A fifth had got into a taxi without checking whether it was licensed, and the same number had got so drunk they could not remember a night out.

Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen said the findings were “alarming but sadly not surprising”.

“Our research in 2005 showed that about one in three people — men and women — routinely blame a woman who has been raped, even over things like their supposed ‘flirtatiousness’ or style of clothing.

“It is depressing that, nearly half a decade later, people are still quick to blame the victim of rape rather than placing the responsibility where it actually belongs — squarely on the shoulders of the perpetrator.”

Deputy mayor of London Kit Malthouse later said £1.4 million (€1.6m) will be invested in the next three years to quadruple the number of rape crisis centres in London.