For Lynn and Shirley
The majority of women in society fear rape — no woman is allowed to ignore it. The majority of children are taught to be afraid of ‘strange men’ who offer us sweets, lifts, etc. We are taught as adults to keep our doors locked, not to be alone, not to look or act in any way that might ‘bring rape upon ourselves’. Perhaps the most obvious situation in which we are taught to be afraid is when walking home alone at night. The threat of violence is a total intrusion into women’s personal space and transforms a routine and/or potential pleasurable activity (for example, a walk in the park, a quiet evening at home, a long train journey) into a potentially upsetting, disturbing and often threatening experience.
40 % of adults who are raped tell no one about it. 31 % of children who are abused reach adulthood without having disclosed their abuse.
Only 15 % of serious sexual offences against people 16 and over are reported to the police and of the rape offences that are reported, fewer than 6 % result in an offender being convicted of this offence.
From the Rape Crisis (England and Wales) website, 2010