Scottish Parliament petition on accurately recording the sex of people charged or convicted of rape or attempted rape

[MurrayBlackburnMackenzie]

We thought this might be of interest to women on this board, based on the response to a recent news article on this issue which sparked this thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4221733-Rape-suspects-can-choose-to-self-identify-as-female-Times-Scotland

We have lodged a petition in the Scottish Parliament, which was published today, calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to require Police Scotland, the Crown Office and the Scottish Court Service to accurately record the sex of people charged or convicted of rape or attempted rape.

We are now collecting signatures for our petition. If you would like to sign, the link is below. Signatures will be collected for four weeks, until 5 July.

petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE1876

This blog sets out the background to the petition and our reasons for using a public petition to secure clarity about the issue of recording sex accurately in these cases specifically:

murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/scottish-parliament-public-petition-on-recording-sex-accurately-in-cases-of-rape-or-attempted-rape/

Thank you.

Lisa, Lucy and Kath

Numbers creeping up /

Campaign to ensure all rape suspects are recorded as men

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/110093be-c8a0-11eb-b6f5-fed739e7c1ca?shareToken=4acb4073f36d8b2406094ddd66589608

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"The petition, which gathered over 4,000 signatures in 48 hours, calls on MSPs to require Police Scotland, the Crown Office and the Scottish Court Service to record the sex of people charged or convicted of rape or attempted rape as exclusively male."

5,756 signatures now, nearly half as much again since that Times article was written.

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Rape Crisis Scotland don’t seem to have any information about this petition on their website - they’ve got news about other rape related things but not this.

I've signed it. I thought legally rape could only be committed by men (women can be charged with assisting rape) so why the police got ahead of the law on this is beyond me 🤔oh wait maybe their stonewall links could be related?

@Chrysanthemum5

I've signed it. I thought legally rape could only be committed by men (women can be charged with assisting rape) so why the police got ahead of the law on this is beyond me 🤔oh wait maybe their stonewall links could be related?

Rape is non consensual penetration with a penis of an orifice. Given that women don’t have penises it is a male crime and should be recorded as such.

Signed and shared

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Signed

Returning to this thread to post some of the coverage we have had for the petition since it launched. Once again, thank you to everyone who has signed to date. We're now very close to 8k signatures. It remains open until 5 July and can be signed by those outside Scotland too.

There was an opinion piece by Lucy and an accompanying news piece in The Times last Wednesday.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/7cd19cc0-c876-11eb-b255-82dcc5007185?shareToken=c23b4b2cbaa958725347a0b211f7e21d&fbclid=IwAR0OkqsXViLo-vWBBU6yCy4Jmzq89By5CtmGDn-HUVkzAHin-BkzIHDUYgI

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/110093be-c8a0-11eb-b6f5-fed739e7c1ca?shareToken=92b58eaf68262f189848645280ea061d&fbclid=IwAR2PRFAgN97hBY1iiXAiOGGesXZNOwgLnckzZhxg-Y1P7ZilDJrZ1ebg2pQ

It was mentioned in a column by Susan Dalgety in The Scotsman:

www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/keir-starmer-must-show-courage-and-protect-women-and-their-hard-fought-rights-susan-dalgety-3269707

And Susan Smith from For Women Scotland spoke about it on Talk Radio. You can listen to the clip here:

forwomen.scot/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Talk-Radio-12June2021.mp3?fbclid=IwAR3PWChjVUvIAy_t9NiCTaeDAlGLkWzj5CD8-EhsS5DeBb8JSoXYcdTfdcs

Thank you.
Kath, Lucy and Lisa

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@MurrayBlackburnMackenzie just wanted to say, thank you for your work on this (and other things). Hoping for a good outcome.

Only just logged in and seen this.

Thank you so much for your kind words @Waitwhat23

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Bumping again, this is important.

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Thank you, everyone. The petition now has over 9.5k signatures. It will close at midnight on Monday 5 July. Please do continue to sign and share.

Bumping again - last couple of days. Signatories currently at 10,300.

Signed, thank you.