Page 8 - The Staunch Test

THE STAUNCH TEST

The imbalance in rape reporting versus prosecution and conviction shows the
travesty of law enforcement and a global culture in which women continue to
be blamed for men’s violence towards them. What we see on screen, by
contrast, is entirely misleading. In fictional rape stories, not only is the victim
generally believed, but these stories wrap up when a suspected rapist is caught

— with the assumption that justice follows. In real life, the opposite is true.
Merely reporting a rape is often the start of another round of abuse for the
victim at the hands of the criminal justice system. And the perpetrator is likely
to walk away unscathed.

When it comes to the murder of women (femicide), stranger danger is the

preferred way to go in books, films and TV. The reality is the opposite. Most
women who are murdered knew their killer. That fact is deliberately ignored in
the fiction we consume. When a woman is killed by a stranger in real life, we are
unhelpfully reassured that it was ‘an isolated incident’. The incidents of stranger
danger may be few, but women are on the alert every single day of their lives in
case such one of those ‘isolated incidents’ occurs. And meanwhile, in the UK, 2
women are murdered by a current partner, ex or family member every week.
The murder of women by men is far from an isolated incident.

Fiction versus reality

Globally, an estimated 736 million women (1 in 3) have been subjected
to intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at
least once in their life

Most violence against women is perpetrated by current or
former husbands or intimate partners

Fewer than 40% of the women who experience violence seek help
of any kind

Six women are killed every hour by men around the world, most by
men in their own family, or their partners