#rapemyths

Myth 1: Rape Occurs Between Strangers in Dark Alleys

Fact: Only around 10% of rapes are committed by 'strangers'. Around 90% of rapes are committed by known men, and often by someone who the survivor has previously trusted or even loved. Victims are often raped in their homes.

Myth 2: Women Provoke Rape By The Way They Dress or Act

Fact: dressing attractively and flirting is an invitation for attention and/or admiration, not for rape. People of all ages, genders, classes, cultures, abilities, sexualities, races and religions are raped. Rape is an act of violence and control.

Myth 3: Women Who Drink Alcohol or Use Drugs Are Asking to Be Raped

Fact: Women have the same right to consume alcohol as men. Drugs and alcohol are never the cause of rape or sexual assault. It is the attacker who is committing the crime, not the drugs and/or alcohol. Likewise, stress and depression don't turn people into rapists or justify sexual violence.

Myth 4: It's only rape if someone is physically forced into sex and has the injuries to show for it.

Fact: ometimes people who are raped sustain internal and/or external injuries and sometimes they don't.  Rapists will sometimes use weapons or threats of violence to prevent a physical struggle or sometimes they will take advantage of someone who isn't able to consent, because they are drunk or asleep for example.  

Myth 5: If the victim didnt complain immediately it wasnt rape

Fact: the trauma of rape can cause feelings of shame and guilt which might inhibit a victim from making a complaint. This fact was recognised by the Court of Appeal in R v D (JA) October 24 2008, where it was held that judges are entitled to direct juries that due to shame and shock, victims of rape might not complain for some time, and that a late complaint does not necessarily mean that its a false complaint. Only three in 10 rapes are reported to law enforcement. It is not easy to talk about being raped. The experience of re-telling what happened may cause the person to relive the trauma

Myth 6: If She Didn't Scream, Fight or Get Injured, It Wasn't Rape

Fact: Victims in rape situations are often legitimately afraid of being killed or seriously injured and so co-operate with the rapist to save their lives. Rapists use many manipulative techniques to intimidate and coerce their victims. Victims in a rape situations often become physically paralysed with terror or shock and are unable to move or fight.

Myth 7: People who were sexually abused as children are likely to become abusers themselves.

Fact: This is a dangerous myth, offensive and unhelpful to adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, which is sometimes used to explain or excuse the behaviour of those who rape and sexually abuse children. The vast majority of those who are sexually abused as children will never perpetrate sexual violence against others. There is no excuse or explanation for sexual violence against children or adults.  

Myth 8: Prostitutes cannot be raped.

Fact: Prostitutes have the same rights with regards to consent as anyone else: the transactions they negotiate with clients are for consensual activities, not rape.

Myth 9: Women cannot be sexually assaulted by their husbands or boyfriends

Fact: Legally, women have the right to say no, to any form of sex with anyone, including their spouse or the person they are dating.

Myth 10: Women secretly want to be raped.

Fact: There is a big difference between fantasizing about aggressive sex and wanting to be raped.A woman is in control of her fantasies; however, women are not in control when they are being sexually assaulted. Rape is a violent, terrorizing, and often humiliating experience that no woman wants or asks for.