The anti-rape resource blog

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

Many thanks to those of you who have offered suggestions etc. in response to my request for help to try and set something up as a campaign against rape.

There are - as many of you pointed out - a number of excellent campaigns already underway.

So I've decided to start a blog with the aim of collecting together as much material relevant to the current situation regarding rape in the UK as possible. I hope this will prove to be a valuable resource to anyone who wants to take further action against rape and related crimes and may help add fuel to the fire of current campaigns and drives to improve this dismal state of affairs.

I haven't abandoned the idea of starting something to help rape victims pursue their attackers through the civil courts, but that will clearly take a lot more thought and work.

This at least can start straight away.

SO...

Please take a look at the first post, if you have time and let me know if you spot any glaring inaccuracies or if I've (unintentionally) worded things crassly/craply etc.

Here

My intention is to continue to add to the blog with any useful material I come across - so again, suggestions are very welcome!

Thanks for your time - you've been an inspiration.

Great!

I'm attempting to add a new post every day at the moment, although can't guarantee I'll be able to keep that up indefinitely.

Please keep the links/case suggestions/report pointers etc. coming!

I think you might want to write up a comments policy for the blog and have it visible either on the comment form or maybe a separate page. Just so you can create a 'safe space' and you don't end up on the backfoot.

Do you mean along the lines of:

"Constructive comments and points for debate about the issues raised in the blog are very welcome.

Comments that are judged to be abusive will not be published.

Thanks for your understanding."

?

That is very good IC

If you need pics of people holding signs I'm sure you will find lots of volunteers

This government business - I don't understand it.

Britain has intervened to object to the wording "violence against women is understood as a violation of human rights".

But isn't violence against anyone a violation of their human rights?

Are they using this as a euphamism for rape? Why not just say rape?

The MRAs would have a field day with violence against women being singled out as a violation of human rights - what about men and children? And I think they'd have a point TBH.

And you know I am the last person to say "what about the men?"!!!

Yes, seems good to me.

OK zikes, I'll get onto that.

Yes, SQ, it's ridiculous, I couldn't agree more. DH (who did a Masters in International relations) reckons it's to give the UK legal wriggle room so the government won't be committed to donating troops etc. when the issue arises.

Crap, huh?

The more I think about it, the more I think the photos with placards saying "I believe you" etc. would be excellent to feature.

DH suggested the blog needed some pictures and I wasn't sure if I agreed, especially as stock shots would probably come across as quite crass and there are copyright issues over reproducing photographs from newspapers etc.

So neeps, if you can get it organised, I'm all for it! I'll get the camera out, too...

It's a fantastic blog, IC. Well done for starting it. Can you make a fb page and link them up so if people follow you on fb, they'll get notified every time you make a new blog entry?

Well, it's your excellent slogan, Lenin! Let's put it to good use...

Good idea, FB (although the thought of that, for some reason, is giving me a momentary attack of modesty and slight stage-fright...!)

Thanks for all your support, it really means a lot to me.
I notice the blog is up to 130 page loads despite only having been up since Tuesday night and only advertised on this board so far.

I just hope it will have some small impact on the situation and the public perception of the situation.

More great ideas, thanks Proles!

You'll forgive me if I don't get all of them enabled straight away, but I will do my best to get the ball rolling as and when...

Er - "flixter" That's a new one on me! I'm willing to be educated, though...

Postsecret is a fantastic site. Would something like that be better than a facebook page do you think?

If you (or someone) was willing to put the work in, neeps!

I like the idea of spreading the "We Believe You" message virally...

The point about the FB page is that you can follow blogs easily - they work like a feed if you publish every post to the page then people who 'like' the page get a news item on their news page on FB.

Yep, will do the FB page anyway...

I don't have any Tweeting knowledge, I'm not ashamed to say...

Excellent blog, great idea re the photos too.

Have you thought of including a bit on places you can find further info? Like useful books etc? I read the Equality Illusion recently and that has a good chapter that discusses sexual violence and uses lots of same stats you do.

Yes, I will definitely get some links up very soon to Fawcett Soc, Rape Crisis, etc. etc. etc.

Books I hadn't really considered, but that's a good idea! I haven't read widely on the subject in recent years (if at all, if I'm honest) beyond what I've found scouring the internet, so suggestions are very welcome indeed.

With the photo project, I thought it would be nice if it there was some kind of wall where people could upload their pictures and they would all stay there if that makes sense. Would that work on a facebook page do you think? Or would it look better on an actual website page. The only issue is I have no knowledge of website pages so that one would be beyond my very limited technical abilities!