A Glasgow film star has thrown her weight behind a hard-hitting TV campaign challenging attitudes to rape.
The thought-provoking ad was shown on TV for the first time last night.
Laura Fraser, who starred in A Knight’s Tale and The Man In The Iron Mask, helped launch the campaign yesterday.
She voiced her support after learning the conviction rate in Scotland reached a 25-year low last year, with just 3% of cases reported proven in court.
She said: “It raised so many questions and I felt I had to review my own prejudices as a result.”
She joined Faye Wilson, 27, at the launch. Faye, who was raped when she was 17, said she did not go to the police partly because of these attitudes.
She said: “I didn’t report it for five years.
I was so aware that people would not believe me or blame me.
“It is only with the help of Rape Crisis that I have been able to put my life back together and talk about what happened.
“I am sick of people attaching shame and blame to the idea of being raped or abused.
“The idea that the responsibility lies with the woman is so shocking and yet that is what many people believe.”
The advert, which shows a woman buying a short skirt to “increase her chances of being raped”, is designed to challenge people who blame victims for dressing provocatively, being drunk or flirting.
Research earlier this year found 23% of Scots think a woman can be at least partly responsible if she is drunk at the time of the attack, and 17% believe a woman bears some responsibility if she wears revealing clothing.
The advert shows a woman in a bar wearing a new outfit when a man remarks that “she’s asking for it”.
It then cuts to an earlier scene in which the woman tells a shop assistant: “I’m going out tonight and I want to get raped. I need a skirt that will encourage a guy to have sex with me against my will.”
Sandy Brindley, Rape Crisis Scotland’s national co-ordinator, said the advert was designed to provoke discussion.
She said: “Our concern is the impact these attitudes have in stopping women reporting rape in the first place, but also the impact in terms of the jury being members of the public who may hold these views.
“Rape has such a devastating impact and yet we seem keen to blame the victim. Even though people genuinely believe they wouldn’t judge a rape victim, they often actually do.”
For more info, visit www.notever.co.uk or call the Rape Crisis Scotland helpline on 0808 801 0302.
