Mumsnet, will you tell the woman that Ched Evans raped, that We Believe Her? And call upon the FA to kick sexism out of football?

[BasilFoulEggs]

Dear Mumsnet
As you are no doubt aware, there has been the most extraordinary hate campaign waged this week by some football fans, against a rape victim in the wake of the Ched Evans Guilty Verdict.

The jist of the hatespeak, has been that a drunk woman has no right to expect the basic human right of not having her body penetrated without her active participation in that sexual act, or even her passive consent. Presumably because men (or at least footballers and their friends) have the right to penetrate women who are incapable of consent. And that if a man rapes you, it is because you are a slut, a slag and all the other hate-speak words used to de-humanise women and make it easier for people not to empathise with us when we are abused.

This week has seen the really ugly spectacle, of a bunch of men asserting their right to rape women, handmaidens supporting that right and both of them sending out a clear warning to all other rape victims, to know what to expect if they dare to pursue justice if they are raped.

If there had been a similar outpouring of hatred against any other historically oppressed group, the rest of the media would have been tearing their hair out analysing why some men hated this group so much, where the hatred came from, why it existed, what could be done about it; but ironically apart from the Daily Fail, there has been very little comment in response to the Twitter hate-campaign. If Twitter had buzzed with indignation at the jailing of the man who posted hate-speak about Fabrice Muamba, I?ve no doubt that the FA would have tracked down the posters and banned them from football matches. Because they?re busy kicking racism out of football. Sexism, though, is fine. They can give a bloody award to a convicted rapist, while their supporters conduct what must be a terrifying hate campaign against his teenage victim? right now, football fans don?t look all that much better than the Taliban, do they?

Mumsnet, will you use the voice you have against this horrible hate campaign? Will you tell the woman that Ched Evans raped, that We Believe Her? Will you ask the FA to state publicly, that they too, believe her and that in future, they will work as hard to kick sexism out of football, as they do to kick racism out?

Thank You.

Link to a facebook support page for the girl here too.
I Believe her

I spent most of yesterday emailing about this. I received very few replies.

Angela smith MP told me she had tweeted about this only to be verbally abused.

Paul blomfield MP replied to my tweet basically denying there was any support from Sheffield united fans for Evans. Btw he is the mp for the area that Sheffield Uniteds stadium is situated. And apparently he is heavily involved with Sheffield united.

Anybody else feel like dropping him an email? I'll find his address

This is the email address:

[email protected]

Is there also some sponsorship - I read something about n-power and the PFA, but I'm not entirely understanding the connection?

SGM good link

We need to think about next steps after Mumsnet contact the FA, etc. One thing would be a model resolution to put through union branches and follow up on that link

How about Women's FA?

Are other feminist groups active on this? Couldn't find anything yesterday

Just an idea but can MNHQ put a link to this thread on their FB page?

(Also if anyone can be arsed to pm me and tell me how it works I'll give twitter a go)

I believe her

I believe her.

I beleive her.

I believe her.

I think she did an incredibly courageous thing in reporting this crime, and I am so sad for her that although she achieved the just about impossible and secured a conviction, it has been turned around on her and she has become the subject of the anger and disgust that should be aimed at Evans and his ilk.

Going to "like" that FB page.

I believe her.

I believe her

I believe her.

Thanks Basil for starting the thread.
I believe her.

And I hope the people who outed her will also face justice.

I believe her.

I'm sickened by anyone who would seek to cast doubt on Evans' guilt.

The whole thing is disgusting and the more people that stand up for the victim and make their outrage at Evans and his cohorts clear, the better.

The F word have been talking about the case

www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2012/04/ched_evans_inte

I believe her.

I believe her. Have signed the petition that was linked to way back on the thread.

Glad MNHQ are talking to End Violence Against Women about how to deal wtih this.

Am being a FBK dunce, I have liked the FBK page in support of her, but dunno how to link so the relevant page shows up in my status - can anyone help?

edam if you copy the info in the address bar (the bit where the www. ect is) at the top of the page you want to share, and paste it into the status box on your FB wall it will share the link. Hope that makes sense.

I think it's unfortunate that the other accused wasn't convicted as well - that would have sent a very strong & very clear message to all the footballers who think with their dicks (& to their fans)

From an earlier post here:

"Nita Dowell, senior crown prosecutor in Wales, said: "Ched Evans took advantage of a vulnerable young woman who was in no fit state to consent to sexual activity.
"It is a myth that being vulnerable through alcohol consumption means that a victim is somehow responsible for being raped. The law is clear: being vulnerable through drink or drugs does not imply consent."

Why didn't that apply to Clayton McDonald too?

I realise that this is purely a feminist issue for some, but actually I wonder whether the PFA would be more likely to sit up and take notice if it became a wider issue, not just about rape, but about other crimes or perceived crimes within the game...

Yesterday for instance, the handshake between Chelsea and QPR players was abandoned because John Terry is currently awaiting trial for racially abusing another player (les Ferdinand is it?). Now, legally, Terry is still innocent until proven guilty, but that doesn't change the fact that his alleged victim has had to play against him while awaiting trial, that the handshake was cancelled, instead of Terry having been stood down for that game, or indeed suspended until such times as he has stood trial (as would have happened in any other workplace).

I do realise that some may think this sort of thing takes away from the particular case being discussed here, but actually, this seems to be an attitude that is applied across the board where footballers and any kind of crime is concerned. And one would hope that rape is something that is not going to be a regular occurrence, however other crimes added to that may well increase the instances of players essentially being rewarded/excused for their behavior while their victims are left to pick up the pieces.

While I do agree that a support campaign for this particular woman (or more to the point, a campaign against her rapist) is a good thing in the immediate, I also think that people are far more likely to sit up and take notice if this becomes about a bigger picture. iyswim.

I believe her

I would like to tweet #ibelieveher too. I have a twitter account but don't really understand it and so never use it - if I just log in and tweet that, will it matter? I'm sure I only have about 6 followers, so will it only be them that sees it or will it reach wider than that?

Sorry to hijack.

TwllBach - just that is fine. You will reach anyone that searches on that term.