Not Ever

With "Not Ever, Rape Crisis Scotland has launched Scotlands first ever TV campaign aimed at tackling women-blaming attitudes to rape. The advert was launched on Monday 28 June, and was broadcast for the first time that night during coverage of Brazil's World Cup match. It will continue to be shown over the next 9 weeks on STV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

"Not Ever" addresses women-blaming attitudes towards rape such as claims that dressing provocatively, being drunk or flirting with men are contributory factors. Its hard-hitting approach is intended to make people stop in their tracks, and to shake out and challenge ingrained prejudices many people have towards women who have been raped.

Recent research reveals that almost one in five Scots believe a woman is partially to blame for being raped if she is wearing revealing clothing - a survey of 1,040 Scots carried out by Cello MRUK in February 2010 for the Scottish Government found that:
• 23 per cent think a woman can be at least partly responsible if she is drunk at the time of the attack
• 17 per cent thought that a woman bore some responsibility if she wore revealing clothing
• 15 per cent say there should be some burden of responsibility for rape if the women is flirting
• 8 per cent think rape can be the woman's fault if she is known to have had many sexual partners

These attitudes can make it difficult for women to speak out about being raped, because of fear of being blamed for what has happened. There are also significant concerns about the impact these attitudes might have on rape survivors' ability to access justice, in terms of attitudes which jury members might hold.

Although many people genuinely believe they wouldn't judge a rape victim by what they wear, how drunk they were, or if they had been flirting all night, they often actually do; particularly when sitting as a juror in court. Not Ever wants to prompt people to keep their judgments in check and to remember that there's only one person who is responsible for rape and it's not the victim. It doesn't matter what you wear, how many sexual partners you've had, or if you're out getting drunk with friends - no one deserves to be raped - ever.

A new campaign website has been set up to allow people to share their thoughts and seek support at www.notever.co.uk , and people can also show support for Not Ever on the campaign's Facebook page at http://bit.ly/blMIu2 .
There is also a Not Ever Twitter stream: @Not_Ever to keep people updated with the progress of the campaign.

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  Nonprofits & Activism

[Laura N]

One of my favorite quotes of all time, "Oh my clothes provoked you? Then maybe I should break your face, because your stupidity provokes me."

[304DIRENGREY]

Tell that to all the children, the elderly, the men, and the people who were dressed in non-revealing clothing when they were attacked. They'll tell you differently. Locks can prevent certain crimes most of the time, but that doesn't apply to the clothing choices of victims of sexual assault because the clothing they wear does not actually protect them from that kind of inhumane act. The idea that clothing choice actually does prevent rape is a big myth, and rape-culture is the blame for it.

[archades54]

It's a play on victim blaming where commonly a person will be blamed by being told they were "asking for it", eg because of the clothing they wore revealed too much cleavage according to the victim-blamer.

[ShoujuZombie15]

Exactly. Unfortunately some people don't seem to understand that and lie the blame squarely at the victim's feet.

[acciokoala]

this ad is responding to the subject of victim blaming. many rapists get away with rape because they argue that the woman's clothes were slutty so she was "asking for it". this ad was addressing the fact that what a woman wears is not consent. her "as if" at the end has nothing to do with her being a dumb blonde, its her saying "as if we buy our clothes in hope of being raped".

[Ruby Green]

It gets across the message. That is the important thing

[Melita Savona]

many people use a woman's clothing as justification for "she was asking for it", this ad is addressing that. Her "as if" is in response to that, i.e. "as if I would buy something specifically to get raped".

[watchoutfornargles]

Newsflash: Women don't just want to look good for men, they also do it to feel good about theirselves. It's not all about sex.

[fantasticEverything]

moves to Scotland

[LinKaisha]

Saying "she is asking for it" suggests that it's partially her fault if it happens. WHICH IT ISN'T.

[Elle Keener]

He didn't say he was going to rape her. But if someone was going to, he would put her in the category of 'asking for it'.

This ad isn't just targeting potential rapists, it is also targeting people that side with the rapist.

[Elle Keener]

Perfect.