Big update on Rape Crisis legal challenge

[IamSarah]

I know many of you have been waiting for an update so first of all thank you for your patience and the many messages of support.

I am suing Survivors Network, the Sussex Rape Crisis service, as it refused to offer a single sex women’s group in addition to the mixed sex women’s groups. By mixed sex I mean inclusive of any males who identify as women.

I’ve been granted anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the case and it was submitted to Brighton County Court today.

I am being represented by law firm Didlaw and my Barrister is Naomi Cunningham (Chair of Sex Matters). So far they have acted pro bono which I am incredibly grateful for as it has taken a lot of time. The team are confident I have a good case but this is unchartered territory for women’s rights.

Many of you have very kindly offered to be involved and help with gardening. I don’t think I’m allowed to share details on here so please go to my Twitter page http://twitter.com/SarahSurviving/ which has all the info in a pinned post.

Of you’re not on Twitter feel free to send me a DM for more information on how you can help the case. Any publicity you can give the crowd funder would really help.

Thank you everyone.

Sarah x

💪good luck

If they change their name to 'Rape prevention network', and their official mission perhaps they can carry on as it is, educating men not to rape, now wouldn't ghat be great!

Women would need no provision by this network though, as they do quite enough, frankly, to prevent themselves from being raped, and the service SHOULD be single-sex only (male)

I would imagine that it's quite common that a woman would not want to talk about rape in the presence of a male

I would imagine that getting help and support quickly is really essential to help women live their lives again rather than remain traumatised for years - adding more pain to them ( the victim )

Unbelievable really

Yeah, let's just let them carry on discriminating against women, as otherwise they have to spend money defending their illegality.

Perhaps they could consider opening a single sex group for women instead? Then they don't need to spend money on defending themselves in court?

So are transmen (women who identify as men) not allowed into the men's group? That seems to go against the ethos of the organisation?

You uppity women shouldn't go after the things that matter to you! You need to do as you're told!

Here's a thought CatherinaJTV - if SN provides women only sessions, which exclude transwomen in line with exceptions allowed in the EA, the demand for 1:1 support is likely to drop, because some of the women currently on the waiting list for that support will be able to access a female only space which they currently can't do.

Yip having to fight a law suit won't help women short term

But it will help long term

The OP is fighting for all women not acting in her own selfish best interest

Here's a thought CatherinaJTV - if SN provides women only sessions, which exclude transwomen in line with exceptions allowed in the EA, the demand for 1:1 support is likely to drop, because some of the women currently on the waiting list for that support will be able to access a female only space which they currently can't do.

Exactly. I can guarantee that if there was a single sex peer support group the demand for 1:1 support would be much lower, enabling more overall support for both woman and trans survivors.

Good luck @IamSarah
🌺

So why don't they just offer a single sex service as they are allowed to by law then rather than wasting their time fighting this? Then everyone has services that they need and time/money isn't wasted.

Stop it!

You know the circumstances and the reasons for the legal challenge as well as anyone else here. You've been part of most if Sarah's threads.

Refusing to offer women single sex groups, whilst offering male only, trans supportive and mixed sex groups is about as wrong as a rape crisis centre can get.

That’s an interesting question, @Dorothea3 - I’d also be interested to know if transmen (natal females) are able to access the “men’s only” group?

Yes, Rape Crisis makes this point very clearly.

'Research conducted by the Women’s Resource Centre found that women who had used women-only services greatly valued this support. An independent poll of 1,000 women across the UK found that 97% of those interviewed thought a female rape victim should have the choice of accessing a women-only support service.'

rapecrisis.org.uk/about-us/why-women-girls/#!

I find it astonishing that someone is happy to harangue a sexual assault survivor repeatedly on this site.

Caterina has often shown a less than kind attitude towards women who have suffered abuse at the hand of makes of all gender identities. I would simply ignore.

Males!

I know. I still find the cruelty breathtaking.

Thank you for doing this Sarah.

Just taking a break from real life gardening to do a bit of online gardening.

Good luck!

Omg I’ve just checked back. This is some amazing gardening! Good luck Sarah.

It is amazing. 514 generous gardeners have got involved and and I have raised over £12k which is brilliant. Absolute angels.

I'm just an ordinary woman, I don't have anyone helping with PR and the only publicity has been on here and Twitter so the response has been incredible.

Thank you gardeners

I still have a long way to go to meet the funding target and it would be a shame if I don't raise enough to go ahead so if anyone has ideas how to help me spread the word please let me know. DMs are open!

Good luck, @IamSarah, I'm going to fire up my laptop and donate to your cause today. This is very close to my heart.

Hopefully if people on Twitter share it that will help, OP.