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Rape Crisis and Reveal campaign together

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Reveal magazine, rape crisis campaignCall for funding for more independent female advisors to support rape victims through the legal process.

A third of women believe there are varying degrees of rape, according to new figures.

The same proportion also think if a woman does not fight back, then she cannot have experienced rape.

One quarter of the 1,000 women surveyed wrongly thought if someone was drunk it could not be classed as rape, while 60 per cent thought it did not count if a woman does not say no.

And sixteen per cent of the women who responded said they had been forced to have sex, however over three quarters of them did not report it to police.

Reasons they gave for not speaking up included fear they would not be believed, worry about lack of legal support and doubt over whether the prosecution would be successful.

Yvonne Treynor from Rape Crisis told Newsbeat: “[Rape] isn’t about sex, it’s about power and control.”

The general public believe certain myths, Treynor continued: “There is no such thing as a varying degree of rape. It’s going to affect women in exactly the same way.

“Rape is rape. Rape is the most horrendous thing that could ever happen to a woman or man.”

Last week Rape Crisis South London and Reveal magazine launched a campaign to call on the government to provide more funding for Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs).

Treynor is working with the campaign, which is calling on the government to provide funding for more independent female advisors to support victims through the legal process.

Only15 per cent of those who are raped or seriously sexually assaulted choose to pursue criminal justice.

Reasons women give for their reluctance to come forward include a fear of not being believed, shame and self-blame, and a lack of confidence in the criminal justice system.

‘We know that where women want to report to the police, the specialist support and information provided by an ISVA can address these concerns and prove life-changing’, Rape Crisis explained, ‘yet not all of the 49 member Rape Crisis Centres across England and Wales are able to provide or sustain ISVA services because their resources are limited’.

In February 2013, figures released by the Home Office and Ministry of Justice estimated that 95,000 rapes occur in the UK each year – yet only 15,670 are reported and just 1,070 rapists are convicted.

In response, Reveal magazine launched its Report Every Rape campaign, through which numerous women have bravely shared their stories, unraveling myths about rape, the reasons they did not report their attack and the cruel effects of this crime.

Those who do report rape may face what becomes a harrowing ordeal of going to court. The support of a specially trained Independent Sexual Violence Advisor at this time is crucial.

Currently there are around 180 ISVAs and they are greatly overstretched.

A petition set up by Rape Crisis and Reveal is calling upon the government to increase the funding for more ISVAs to encourage more rape victims to seek justice.

Click here to sign.

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