AN alarming number of adults across the country are unclear about what rape is, according to a new study.

The research, carried out by the End Violence Against Women Coalition, has found a third of men think if a woman has flirted on a date it generally wouldn’t count as rape, even if she hasn’t explicitly consented to sex. This compares to 21 per cent of women.

A third of men also believe a woman can’t change her mind after sex has started, while almost a quarter think that sex without consent in long-term relationships is usually not rape.

Charities have now said these attitudes are completely unacceptable.

Rape Crisis Scotland's chief executive, Sandy Brindley, said: "Rape Crisis Scotland has had concerns for some time about the impact of attitudes that jury members might hold on decision making in rape trials.

"Study after study has shown that a significant minority of the Scottish population blame women due rape in certain circumstances, if we are flirting, drinking or have engaged in a certain level of consensual sexual activity.

"It would be naive to think these attitudes have no bearing on how jury members interpret the evidence in rape trials.

"These attitudes have no place in our justice system."

The charity have also called for more to be done to tackle these issues.

Sandy Brindley added: "Public attitudes need to change if rape survivors are to have access to justice.

"It is clear that concerted action is required across the whole of the UK to tackle the impact of rape myths on our justice system.

"Sir John Gillen in his recent review of justice responses to rape in Northern Ireland stated that rape myths undermine the notion of a fair trial. One recommendation from his review was the development of a video debunking rape myths which should be shown to juries prior to any evidence being led.

"We are calling on the Scottish Government to consider this for Scotland.

"The first meeting of the Victims’ Taskforce is taking place next week, chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice. We would like to see serious consideration given by the Taskforce to strategies to tackle current issues in justice responses to rape, including the impact of societal attitudes.

"As well as looking at what we can do to minimise the impact of jury attitudes during court proceedings, we need concerted and sustained efforts to change public attitudes and improve awareness of the reality of rape.

"Fundamentally, we need a cultural change in our attitudes to both rape and women’s sexuality."

If you have been affected by any of the issues discussed in this article, call Rape Crisis Scotland's free helpline on 08088 01 03 02.