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.

i believe her and have liked and shared the fb campaign page.

can i just say i know it has been mentioned in the telegraph now (the mnet thread) which is great BUT will it bring idiots to mnet who want to stick up the the footballer? just a thought? am sure if it does mnhq will deal with it, but it was a thought i had.

I've just read the Telegraph article - The comments make me so sad! People are actually arguing about the definition of rape.

I just want to say Claire Peach I don't know what your NN is, but your comments are eloquent and true. I got mad just reading the comments, but your responses make me so proud to be a mumsnetter too.

A very unmumsnetty (((hug)))

Will you do something though? It's fine liking a facebook page but are you willing to be active? Would you read my post below in this topic and help if you can? TY

I believe her.

shall go find your post skirt :)

I believe her

I believe her

I believe her.

Any players/supporters/anyone else who defend this rapist are lower than low.

I believe her

So someone who appears to believe that being raped while drunk is a criminal offence (here's a tip, it's not - raping is), questions the necessity for anonymity for rape victims and thinks it's wrong that men accused of rapes don't have anonymity.

Yep, that figures.

Because rapists get internet hate campaigns launched against them don't they, they get accused of traumatising their victims and ruining their lives, people threaten to rape them violently if they ever meet them, they are forced to go into hiding with their families...

Oh wait, no they don't. It's not rapists who are subjected to that, it's their victims. That's why rape victims need anonymity. Because we still live in a society which has a damned sight more sympathy with a good looking young man who rapes someone, than they do with the woman he rapes. Because we live in a society which values men's lives more than those of women. And until we don't, rape victims need anonymity because they are more likely to be subjected to a hate campaign and further violence, than their rapists are.

And men who are accused of rape, don't need anonymity any more than any other person accused of a criminal offence. Because in spite of the fact that only about 4% of all reported rapes are false allegations (which means over 95% of them are true), the majority of people who know them, will believe that their victim is lying because we are taught that women are liars and that we lie about rape all the time and very few people ever really question that preposterious notion. If a man accused of rape walks free (which well over 90% do) everybody will have sympathy for him because they will believe that he is one of those poor men who are falsely accused: because the public perception of rape is in almost direct inverse to the reality. Many people believe that most rape allegations are false, when we know that over 90% are true and that it's a very rare crime, when we know how common it is - 1 in 10 mumsnetters has been raped and outside of here, the figure is even higher at an estimated 1 in 9. A man who is publicly accused of rape, has a well over 90% chance, of being a rapist. And yet most people believe that there is an army of men falsely accused of rape, when it's the other way round - there's an army of rapists who aren't being accused, because most women don't report rape, because they fear the sort of treatment that has been meted out to Ched Evans' victim.

We also know that they are repeat offenders and naming a rape defendent, means that other victims come forward and help the investigation whcih makes a conviction more likely. Anonymity for rape defendents, would ensure that even more rapists walk free than currently. If you want anonymity for rape defendents, what you are arguing for in practice, is an even better chance of rapists getting away with it than they have now; and the odds are far too high now: The number of reported rapes which end in a guilty verdict, is 6%. Even though most of those men are rapists. How many more of them do you want to walk free?

I believe her.

I believe her

I'd like to write to my local schools with a request to educating girls and boys in this matter.
Does anyone know of any organisation that go into schools and educate about no means no etc. so we can try to combat this vile mysoginistic view creeping over society while they are young.

I believe her.

I believe her

I believe her.

Something that has struck me when reading comments about this - so many of his supporters saying "well, she didn't say no". How can we get across that no isn't the point, the point is not that it's ok to fuck women unless they say no. The point is that before you stick your penis in someone make damn sure that they say yes, and mean it. It actually horrifies me, how prevalent the view seems to be among men and women that it's not rape until she says no, when actually is is rape until she says yes

I believe her.

I believe her

Mamas12:

Here's one

I believe her

I believe her.
Lets keep the #Ibelieveyou trending on twitter.

I believe her

Good post optimistic, it is rape until she says yes freely without coercion. So simple, why do people not get that? This is all so depressing, I feel like attitudes towards rape have not moved on at all these last few years.

I also agree that she was very brave.