'Alarming' attitudes towards rape revealed in survey of British public

An "alarming" number of British adults remain confused about what constitutes rape, despite the rise of the #MeToo movement, a campaign group has said.

The End Violence Against Women (EVAW) coalition said results from a YouGov survey of nearly 4,000 people highlighted why access to justice is "beyond the reach of many victims".

They said the survey showed that "myths about rape are still very common".

Rachel Krys, EVAW co-director, said society was "failing to respond to the call for help" prompted by the #MeToo campaign, the international movement which has sought to expose and shame sexual harassment.

The research found one-third of Britons said it would not be rape if there was no sexual violence committed.

Some 21 per cent of female respondents said it would not generally be considered rape if the victim had flirted on a date, even if she had not explicitly consented to sex.

Only 89 per cent said it would be rape to have sex with someone who was either asleep or too drunk to consent - with 5 per cent saying it was not usually rape, and 1 per cent saying it was never rape.

Some 11 per cent believed the more sexual partners a woman has, the less harm she will experience from an attack.

Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of people said non-consensual sex within a long-term relationship was not rape.

One-third of men thought a woman cannot change her mind after sex has begun.

The figures, taken from 3,922 male and female respondents of varied ages and political persuasions within Britain, also suggested people over the age of 65 were more likely (35 per cent) to think non-consensual sex within a long-term relationship was not rape, compared with 16 per cent of those aged 16-24.

Ms Krys said: "These figures are alarming because they show that a huge proportion of UK adults, who make up juries in rape trials, are still very unclear about what rape is.

"#MeToo has shone a light on the scale of sexual violence, and more women are seeking justice.

"Yet as a society we are failing to respond to this call for help, and this year the number of cases being taken forward by police and the courts fell."

Campaigners have called for an independent review of how the police and courts tackle rape

Ms Krys said: "This research shows that confusion and myths about rape are still very common, and this could explain why it's hard for juries to make fair decisions if they don't understand or agree with our laws on rape.

"It's vital that justice for rape victims is prioritised and we put in place measures to make the system fairer. We also need guaranteed counselling for all rape survivors - and practical and legal help if they choose to report to the police."

Figures published in September within the Crown Prosecution Service's Violence Against Women And Girls report of 2017/18 highlighted a 23.1 per cent fall in the number of defendants charged with rape compared with the previous year.

The CPS also denied altering rape prosecution advice to boost conviction rates and take "weak cases" out of the system.