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Woman to Woman, an Oral History of Rape Crisis in Scotland 1976-1991

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Woman to Woman, an Oral History of Rape Crisis in Scotland 1976-1991 Woman to Woman An Oral History of Rape Crisis in Scotland 1976-1991 Woman to Woman An Oral History of Rape Crisis in Scotland 1976–1991 Edited by Eileen Maitland Published by Rape Crisis Scotland 2009 Tara House, 46 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HG Copyright © Rape Crisis Scotland 2009 ISBN 978-0-9561486-0-5 Cover illustrations by kind permission of Angela Hayden – http://angelahayden.net/ Front cover: Circle of Women Back cover: BW Woman#4 Printed by Hampden Advertising Ltd Dedication This book is dedicated to all women who have been involved in the fight against violence against women. In particular, it is dedicated to Frances Oboyle, Kate Cavanagh and Ingrid McClements, whose contributions to this movement were immeasurable. 3 Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................... 8 Introduction ................................................................................... 9 Early Days ...................................................................................... 10 The First centres ............................................................................... 14 Glasgow ......................................................................................... 14 Advertising & Fundraising ............................................................ 16 Every Woman’s Fear ................................................................... 22 Women’s Support Project ............................................................ 23 Women’s Safety Centre ............................................................... 23 Edinburgh ...................................................................................... 25 Aberdeen ....................................................................................... 35 Revival .................................................................................... 47 Dundee ......................................................................................... 51 Highland Rape Crisis ......................................................................... 56 Kilmarnock .................................................................................... 59 Central Scotland Rape Crisis ............................................................... 63 Recruitment ................................................................................... 65 Learning to support and developing support skills ..................................... 68 Face to face support .................................................................... 76 Support for supporters ...................................................................... 78 Training ......................................................................................... 80 Contribution of survivors to Rape Crisis ................................................. 82 Child sexual abuse ............................................................................ 85 Incest Survivors Groups .............................................................. 89 Action Against Incest .................................................................. 91 Safe, Strong & Free .................................................................... 94 Ritual abuse .................................................................................... 96 5 Feminism/feminist ideals ................................................................... 99 Collective working ........................................................................... 101 Investigation & prosecution of rape : the reality ......................................... 110 Police questioning ..................................................................... 111 Forensic examination .................................................................. 112 Judgemental reactions ................................................................ 114 Rape Crisis support in court ......................................................... 115 Rapists & “real” rape ................................................................... 116 Righteous victims…and other women ............................................. 117 The Glasgow Rape Case .............................................................. 118 Judges: attitudes & comments ....................................................... 119 Jury attitudes ........................................................................... 121 Women held responsible ............................................................. 121 “False” accusation ...................................................................... 122 Ignorance of the impact of abuse .................................................... 124 Lack of representation ................................................................ 124 No opportunity to examine the accused ........................................... 125 Conviction & sentencing ............................................................. 126 Lawyers’ attitudes ..................................................................... 127 Research into sexual history & character evidence ..................................... 128 Criminal injuries claims ..................................................................... 131 Spreading the word: talks and training .................................................... 132 Police training .......................................................................... 133 WACUs and FACUs ................................................................... 137 Campaigning ................................................................................... 141 Newspapers ............................................................................. 141 Sex shop in Aberdeen ................................................................. 141 GRCC takes to the streets ............................................................ 142 Films ..................................................................................... 143 6 Campaigning (ctd.) Legal campaigning ..................................................................... 144 Rape in marriage ....................................................................... 144 Laws of evidence ....................................................................... 145 Criminal injuries compensation ..................................................... 146 Pornography ............................................................................ 147 Reclaim The Night ..................................................................... 147 Greenham Common .................................................................. 151 Language ................................................................................ 153 Conferences ................................................................................... 155 Cardonald 1987 ........................................................................ 157 Ritual Abuse 1989 ..................................................................... 159 How Rape Crisis was perceived ............................................................ 160 Role of the media ............................................................................. 164 Professional prejudice & conflict ........................................................... 167 Development of the Rape Crisis Network in Scotland ................................. 169 The debate around supporting men ................................................ 171 The wider feminist network ......................................................... 172 Lesbian women ................................................................................ 173 Black & minority ethnic women ........................................................... 175 Anecdotes ...................................................................................... 176 Influences: reading ............................................................................ 178 Testimony the personal impact of Rape Crisis Work .................................... 180 Friendship & social contact ........................................................... 183 Challenging people in everyday life ................................................. 185 Mothers and daughters ............................................................... 187 Perceptions of Rape Crisis in Scotland today ............................................ 188 Looking forward .............................................................................. 191 References ..................................................................................... 195 7 Acknowledgements Our heartfelt thanks go out to every woman who took the time to take part in this oral history project, and to every woman who played a part in the development of the Rape Crisis movement in Scotland. We hope that their voices will help: “To inspire younger women, younger generations to keep on, not so much a struggle, but …a sort of an opening of the mind, a strengthening of the connection … between women and a better understanding of the world around us and that a lot of good things …can and will go on happening. But not to sort of sleep on our laurels the way sometime women think these days that they’ve got it all because it’s not true. It could …be taken away so easily. “ [Florence Germain] We would also like to thank Professor Dorothy Griffiths and the Feminist Review Trust for funding this publication, and for their patience and support, Angela Hayden for very generously allowing us to use her
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