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RAPE CRISIS NETWORK Ireland (RCNI) launched its annual report for 2015 today.
Across 11 Rape Crisis Centres nationwide, over 13,000 calls were placed to access their services in 2015.
In these centres, 1,384 people accessed counselling and support last year.
Some of the landmark figures from the report include:
Speaking at the launch of the report this morning, executive director of the RCNI Clíona Saidléar detailed how the figures were central to providing comprehensive and detailed information on sexual violence in Ireland, especially cases that don’t get reported to authorities such as the gardaí.
She said: “The figure of 65% who don’t previously report it and come to rape crisis centres – they have no other voice bar this data.”
The fact that the vast majority (85%) know the perpetrator could go some way to explaining why so many of these crimes don’t get reported, said Saidléar.
She added that making that journey from reporting the crime all the way through to a court case easier for victims was essential to make sure that more of these crimes do not go unreported. Cooperation between agencies such as the Rape Crisis Centre, gardaí and Tusla could be improved, however, she said.
Cuts to the network’s funding, however, mean that their once-heralded gold standard of reporting on sexual violence in Ireland is under threat, according to Saidléar.
The RCNI has received no funding from the Child and Family Agency Tusla in two years and, along with a cumulative 70% reduction in their funding, this is said to have hit their ability to support the sector with policy and guidance.
“This is the system that the Irish government is let falling through the cracks,” she said.
Consent
The issue of consent is one that is vitally important in Ireland, according to Saidléar. She says that the government must, as a priority, include provision for consent Criminal Justice (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015, which is currently going through the Dáil.
She said:
Everything around sexual violence hinges on consent. It makes no sense not to have a definition of it in our law when it is so pivotal. I would say it’s so critical that we must define it in law.
According to Saidléar, a culture of victims playing down sexual violence and not acknowledging it is no longer a norm. “That culture of “just get on with it”, “just be quiet” and “don’t name it” has really been challenged,” she said.
In terms of men reporting sexual violence, around 12% of the overall number, Saidléar said that common assumptions about men not reporting such incidents may not be true.
She said: “There tends to be a phrase thrown out almost as a truism that men find it harder to report sexual violence. I’m not sure that holds up.
“We know women deny and minimise… Men tend not to do that. They tend to know when they’ve experience sexual violence and can name it [...] We obviously have a lot more to do for both genders in this area.”
Teenagers
In terms of how the figures are changing year-on-year, the RCNI are particularly concerned about teenagers and how sexual violence affects them.
Saidléar explained: “They are not served by our child protection regime. The way that services respond is really designed for under-13s… In some ways teenagers are judged as adults, but they are still children.
Under the law, they have no capacity to consent. Often in society, we are asking “how did they behave?” or “what did they do”. All those victim blaming questions – we tend to start asking those of teenagers at a very young age. So from the age of 12,13 and 14 up, we start to ask girls what they did “to ask for it”.
“So I would say the conversation about consent is critical for those children, even though under the law they have no capacity to consent.”
Abortion
It was seen that almost one in four victims who became pregnant following a rape accessed an abortion.
In a recent submission to the Citizens Assembly on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, the RCNI expressed the view that including allowing abortion in cases of rape would be “unworkable” if the amendment was to be repealed.
Saidléar said: “The conclusion we came to was that a ‘rape clause’ is not feasible. In terms of the trauma that a survivor has experienced, they would have to be then put through a process where they are judged, assessed and maybe fail.
It must be under health grounds. A survivor shouldn’t have to prove or be judged.
A full copy of their 2015 report can be found here.
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indeed the victim gets blamed the garda don’t want to know and the rapists walk free great little system of neglect while the victim spends years in trauma.
Can you give an example where the victim got blamed? The court system is a joke but people generally have nothing but sympathy for the victim.
@Awkward Seal: Here ya go “Danny Foley, of Meen, Listowel, sat in the dock at the Circuit Criminal Court, in Tralee, yesterday, awaiting sentence for sexually assaulting a woman, having been found guilty by a jury almost two weeks ago.
A group of 50 people, mainly men and said to be neighbours and friends, trooped into the courtroom and marched up to the accused, in single file. Each man shook his hand – some hugged him warmly, with tears in their eyes. It was witnessed by the 24-year-old victim who cut a lonely figure in the front seat of the public gallery. Dressed in black, she sat with a female garda, a counsellor from the Kerry Rape Crisis Centre and a friend.
All the well-wishers then seated themselves in the public gallery. Judge Donagh McDonagh, who had not seen what happened, emerged from his chambers a few minutes later.”
These are biased people who want to believe the best about their friend even despite the guilty verdict. They aren’t representative of the public at large and certainly not the legal system.
@Tricia Golden: Danny Foley, 39, former bouncer – I may say you have to have a guts if you neighbour him and don’t show support if “he asks”… Surely there are areas in Ireland you don’t want to be rebel on your own..
@Clever Jake: The priest also said ““I don’t want to make any judgment on her at all, but obviously the whole situation must have been embarrassing, for the police to happen upon them and what-not. She’s the mother of a young child as well and, you know, that in itself doesn’t look great.””
Those single mothers, clearly asking for it!
Makes the blood boil!!
@Awkward Seal: Did you ever read the comments on the Adam Johnson story?
There were an awful lot of people that didn’t believe he’d done anything wrong.
As far as they were concerned, even though he knew she was 15 and had researched the legal issues online, it was the 15 year old’s fault and she was responsible for ruining his life. She’d “thrown herself at him”. A 15 year old obsessed with a celebrity so it had to be her fault that he took advantage.
That is victim blaming.
In many counties 15 year olds can legally consent. I take the age line of consent with a grain of salt, although not personally obviously. I’m not really familiar with the case but despite my shear ignorance I’ll say my understanding was that he met her on tinder and that it was consensual as far as it can be consensual with a 15 year old. As for the priest, well he wouldn’t be the first priest to try to cover up rape. Maybe you are right about this rape culture stuff.
Did awkward seal just try and make excuses for the paedophile in the exact same thread they were arguing that no one ever makes excuses for paedophiles?
That’s some mighty fine fantasyland you’re living in.
What culture exactly
The sweeping generalised one
Where are these people? Outside of the church, I’ve never heard anybody blame a 12 year old victim?
You’ve never heard, she’s mature for her age, or looks much older, or children these days are more sexualised
There does seem to be an incredibly strong culture of blaming the victim. Across all of our societies problems, bar, none.
Fcuking horse sh!t. Literally nobody would blame a 12 year old pre pubescent child for getting raped. More ridiculous liberal nonsense.
@Superfiends: Except that they do. What they were wearing, if they were drinking etc all comes in to play during a court case involving rape for women of any age.
There was an article a few years ago in the NY times about the gang-rape of an 11 year old girl, and the article went on to say that “she dressed older than her age” and “would hang out with teenage boys at a playground”, implying that she had it coming to her or was somehow to blame for it. They arrested 18 men/boys for raping her.
@Superfriends
“I would never do it, so I assume this is a universal truth.” is essentially what you’re saying.
There’s countless studies and reports and testimonials that this does happen if you care to step out of your fantasy world and look it up.
But I always forget. Accessing facts that don’t fit in with your pre-conceived, arbitrary perceptions of society based on nothing but your own personal opinion is pretty much par for the course with conservatives.
Generally, rape is still thought to be a crime against women specifically (and historically has been defined this way), although many cases of male-victim rape have become subject of public discussion recently.[2] Dr. Maeve Eogan and Deirdra Richardson, respectively the medical director of the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit (SATU) of Rotunda Hospital and a sexual assault forensic examiner, said that rape of males is still taboo to be spoken about and has a negative connotation among both heterosexual and homosexual men. Male-on-male rape is heavily stigmatized. According to psychologist Dr. Sarah Crome, fewer than 1 in 10 male-male rapes are reported. As a group, male rape victims reported a lack of services and support, and legal systems are often ill-equipped to deal with this type of crime. so yeah, men rape men,women and children in no particular order.
Dublin RCC rightly refer to the clear need for consent.
While simultaneously ignoring women in prostitution s demand that their consent be recognised with maximum legal rights.
Dublin RCC rightly express the need to encourage the reporting of sexual violence esp against women and children.
While simultaneously turning a blind eye to increasing numbers of Swedish police reports of increasing prostitution and trafficking in the prostitution debate.
Undoubtedly Dublin RCC do good work but always worth remembering that total sycophancy to any of these NGOs gives a green light to selfserving purposed.
One party in Ireland even tries to degrade and humiliate rape victims.
@Clever Jake: 200,000 rapes ? that would make Ireland one of the highest rape rates on the planet.
I have never met anyone who ever said that rape was okay or that women bring it onto themselves. Surely if its such a pernicious problem we would see this people ?
Everyman I have spoken to on the subject start the conversation on what terrible punishments should be meted out to the men who rape.
All this talk of rape culture, yet not a whiff of any evidence of it.
Who honestly thinks raping someone is ok ?
Was there a big guys meeting where we all got together and decided who to rape and who to leave alone ?
Do we never convict rapists ?
Is the legal system out to get women ?
@TheWalkingBread: But people do victim blame all the time. You’re not supposed to walk alone at any time of the day, you shouldn’t get a taxi on your own, you shouldn’t get drunk, you shouldn’t wear revealing clothing. All of these things get brought up in rape cases, I have heard people say things like, “she shouldn’t have gone to that party” or “she was so drunk”. All of this lays the blame on the victim’s door.
I’m sure you’ve never met anyone who’d rape someone either, yet they do. Amazingly, your own personal experiences do not constitute a universal truth.
People moderate what they say around others all the time. Your friends aren’t likely to tell you they think a 12 year old deserved to be raped any more than they’d be likely to tell you if they wanted to rape someone.
There is a term for the victim blaming mindset.
It’s called The Just-World hypothesis:
‘ Because it’s far too frightening for many to accept that bad things can happen to good people, and therefore that they themselves have no control over whether bad things might happen to them someday, they will instead search for ways to differentiate themselves from victims of ill fortune’
Just to clarify.
It’s other women who engage in victim blaming, in the main men are far more sympathetic.
Feminism needs to deal with this disturbing reality.
@Alex Falcone: Sorry, what??
Just to clarify.
It’s other women who engage in victim blaming, in the main men are far more sympathetic.
Feminism needs to deal with this disturbing reality.
Also to clarify, huh?? Where do you even get that from? If men were the most sympathetic bunch of the lot wouldn’t they just NOT rape women altogether?
@Veronica:
Ah, I see. You are unable to distinguish between rapists and the wider male population in general.
Hardly any point in continuing the discussion then.
@Alex Falcone: Because you were so loquacious before? My loss then.
In my opinion, Alex is totally correct Veronica He stated that generally men are sympathetic and you made the absurd argument that if all men were sympathetic there would be no rape . It’s a ridiculous twisting of what he said. Most people are sympathetic to murder victims but that doesn’t mean there’s no murder. Women are awful for victim blaming,I have seen it in bars and other places where women are vicious to each other. Men wouldn’t dare victim blame these days. Women need to start treating each other better.
Henry Leak, the chairman of the Survivors organization, noted that rape of males, as with females, has more to do with power than sexuality, and does not only happen inside the homosexual community. Sexual orientation is a complex issue, and the majority of male perpetrators who seek out boys are not homosexual.[
Male sexual assault victims often fear being seen as gay or weak, or believe that their assault may be due to their appearance being effeminate or homosexual so as to attract other males. Experts do not believe that premature sexual experiences play a significant role in later sexual orientation. Research by Jane Gilgun, Judith Becker and John Hunter states that while many perpetrators may have experienced sexual abuse of their own, most sexual assault victims will not go on to become adolescent perpetrators
@Lukey:
>Male sexual assault victims often fear being seen as gay or weak
I believe you mean womanly, because to be a woman is a terrible thing.
You make it sound like it’s natural for men to rape women.
@Veronica: I am fairly sure he meant “Male sexual assault victims often fear being seen as gay or weak”, I read his comment three times to try and see how you picked it up the way you did and I just can’t see it.
I honestly thought paedophiles don’t differentiate between male and female children. It’s only a question of getting access to them without being caught. It’s no reflection on the lads at all. These are predators.
This is exactly what starts the absurd ‘rape culture’ in American universities where their slogan is ‘all men are potential rapists’. The statistics are flawed here and presented in such a way to be inflammatory. I would ask all readers to keep in mind that these stats are based on one sided hearsay and not on foot of proper procedure. The word perpetrator is wrong as it implies guilt of some unknown person without hearing from that person. They are based on calls from unknown people and unreported untested accounts. This does not mean it happened and does not mean it didn’t, simply that it is not reliable and designed to cause reaction. Also bear in mind that 85% know the perpetrator but vastly are not reported to authority or even a doctor. Also note the term ‘rape’ is not said in the stats. They refer only to all sexual assault or abuse which has a far broader range. All rape and sexual assault is abhorrent and should be met with the strongest punishments our laws allow. However, this reckless, sensationalist reporting is irresponsible and I hope people do not give to much time to it. examine and question it. don’t read the irresponsible headlines of the journal . ie and decide upon that.
have your say