The "so what can we actually do" thread...

[ImSoNotTelling]

Hello

Following on from the thread about changing the law on rape to grant anonimity to the accused, a few people have started to think about what we can do to get involved, to actually try and change stuff.

So I guess this thread is for suggestions, ideas, and for people to link up to actually try to change things.

So far we have someone possibly standing for pariament!

So come on everyone.

What's the plan....

their cards are good

i believe you is a new message though

those cards are good in their own way (they are witty and memorable) but the suggestions here are IMO more powerful - those cards just assert that the myths aren't true. On this thread it has been suggested that we could do ads with the myth then a statement underneath with the fact - eg 'myth: women lie about rape; 'only 2% of allegations are false' or whatever.

I don't think there is anything wrong with different organisations campaigning for the same thing as they are likely to be using slightly different tactics and have different talents. As long as everyone is prepared to work together in situations where unity is strength. IMO.

I find their cards a bit unsubtle. There are a lot of people who wouldn't believe those statments but would believe other rape myths, or the same ones in a less extreme form. I.e. they wouldn't believe that "most women who report rape are lying" and they wouldn't believe that women who were raped were asking for it. But they would nevertheless wrongly think that there's a fairly high rate of false allegations.

That's why I like "I believe you" - because it doesn't make a particular statement that some middle-of-the-road person will look at say "why do they tell us we think that when we don't?"

Yeah, i'm no graphic designer, not even close sadly.

sethstarkaddersmum, if you put a percentage in there people will just disagree with it and say you're an extremist feminist, though.

yes all good points. i just wanted to point out that we're not going to be the only group with this idea, and so we need to make sure that we're not doing anything too "samey" IYSWIM. We need to be a separate recognisable entity.

the rape myths thing - I just had a thought prompted by vesela this that you said

"I.e. they wouldn't believe that "most women who report rape are lying" and they wouldn't believe that women who were raped were asking for it. But they would nevertheless wrongly think that there's a fairly high rate of false allegations."

I bet that loads of people would quite vociferously say of course they didn't think most women lied. but when they read a case in the paper, the thought "she's probably lying" will cross their mind, and teh same for the next case and the next.

it's these almost subconscious conditioned reactions that we need to address, which is going to be incredibly hard.

do you think so Vesela? I don't agree - I think properly sourced statistics are very powerful and if we shy away from giving factual info because it would make people think we are 'extreme feminists' we would miss out on using some of our most powerful tools.

but as a starting point an 'I believe you' campaign is fab.

the rape crisis website is very good. Eyecatching, memorable logo with the paperchain of women hoding hands. strong colours, easy to see where to click. says straight off who they are and what they are for.

Oh wow this is fantastic!! I just wish I had more time to take everything in (lunch break!)

So the (v. rough) plan would seem to be;

• raise awareness (Twitter, etc etc - afraid I have zero idea about how Twitter works - maybe an "official" FB group too)
• set up website
• raise funds, through justgiving or whatever
• purchase advertising space
• other media campaigns possibly?!

On a personal level I would love to get involved. I'm an accountant and I would be very happy to start looking after that side of things. I'm thinking we ought to look into registering as a charity perhaps? I had a (very) brief look just now at this, linking it here in case anyone with more time than me wants to have a read and see what they think. I think this bit might be particularly relevant. It would make things look a whole lot more "proper" and "respectable" iyswim? But I am not sure yet whether our "purpose" (which we should try to define I think) is actually a charitable one.

Anyway, I think I will have to look into setting up CAT or whatever it's called, if people do want me to get involved.

Grr just wish I had more time. Will look more when I get home.

sethstarkaddersmum, LeninGrad linked to a Home Office report from 2002 that showed, among other things, that out of 216 cases classified as false allegations, only in 2 cases were charges actually laid (so 1% in fact). The 216 cases were 8% of all cases reported and 12% of all cases that went beyond the police stage.

The trouble is that people cite all sorts of percentages on threads, and when they see a low one (even if it's right) they're likely to think hmm, that must be a statistical manipulation - even if it's actually the most accurate.On the other hand, I agree that statistics are powerful.

I think ISNT is right that it's about challenging people's subconscious attitudes.

I read the report too Vesela. From what I have read it seems like credible percentages range from 2% to 8%. One could of course be more open about the uncertainty and say 'between 2 and 8%' as even 8% is still going to be a lot less than the myth - there's a whole other discussion to be had about that. Just seems really odd and defeatist to say 'we won't use statistics at all because people won't believe them.'

I am sure that we can use statistics to our advantage. We know the reactions to various stats onthe threads by people who are not sympathetic.

I think the number of women raped in the UK every day / every week stat is extremely powerful.

Like the 2 women murdered every week - it really brings you up short, it's that shocking.

The problem that we have with our stats - unlike say the murder one - is that with the best will in the world, a lot of the rape stats are estimates and so easy to dismiss.

Maybe could say that "only 1% of false allegation claims went beyond the police charges stage."

Most important thing is to make it clear what it's referring to.

(although would be good to have figures from a later report from after the 2003 Sexual Offences Act - is there one?).

vesela, I have to say that I don't like that slogan, it's focus seems wrong. It isn't saying that false allegations are no more common in rape than any other crime while still focusing on false allegations in rape which is a big rape myth out there.

that's very true.

yes - that false accusations are no more common in rape is the best argument.

How about "at least 96% of women who report rape are telling the truth"?

hi - this looks like a useful idea. Might be good to compare the rates of false allegation claims to those for other crimes like, say burglary - I know I've read that there's no evidence that says rape false claims are any commoner than for other crimes.
So maybe a confrontational image with a guy complaining about being burgled and a woman saying she's been raped and asking if you believe one but not the other and if not why not?

When I was at college a women's group ran an anti-rape campaign giving out free condoms and sweets and stuff, with leaflets saying "Real men wait for 'Yes'" - making it clear that it was men's responsibility to get explicit consent and it shouldn't be women's to have to say no. I thought it was a great idea but I haven't seen any campaigns do that since - don't know why.

I'm not going to have to rejoin facebook am I...

Are you all friends on facebook? I killed mine as it got on my nerves...

I think I'll stay away then! It drove me round teh bend

Len I'm not sure I get you - you mean that people will be enthusiastic for our campaign? As well as what truth about rape do?