Rape law needs a drastic reform

SEX surveys are generally good for a laugh. Speculating how many times a night your neighbours, friends or family are at it can be a giggle – or make you sick to your stomach at the thought.

All-in-all they're normally pretty harmless stuff, but this week there was a sex survey of a different sort published – a survey of men who use prostitutes.

While their thoughts about the women who sell their bodies to make cash were fairly predictable (they enjoy it), the chilling statistic was that ten per cent of these "punters" admitted they would rape a woman – any woman – if they thought they wouldn't get caught.

It wasn't a very scientific survey of men in Edinburgh and Glasgow, nor was it a very large study – and given that those questioned were already paying for sex, they obviously already had issues with the opposite sex. But for even one of these men to admit rape would figure in his sex life if it were possible, is frightening.

I'm not for a moment suggesting you can tar every man with the same brush. Not all men are rapists, but neither are all rapists uneducated Neanderthals. Almost a third of those questioned in this survey earned more than £30,000 a year, so were obviously in good jobs. The average age was 37, so they grew up in our more "enlightened" times, and half of them had a wife or girlfriend at home.

Yet as Melissa Farley of the US organisation Prostitute Research and Education (PRE), which produced the report, said: "The more often they are using those women (prostitutes], the more often they are telling us they are sexually abusive with their non-prostitute partners."

What the report didn't ask, was whether any of these men had actually raped a woman – be it a prostitute, stranger or wife. While they say they would if they wouldn't get caught, the reality is just that – they probably wouldn't be.

Most rapes are not reported because of women's fear at being mistreated further by the male-dominated legal world. Even when they are, more than a third of cases never make it to court. The rate of successful prosecutions for rape is a pitiful 3.9 per cent – the lowest in Europe. With such a poor record of prosecution, can it be a coincidence that sex attacks are on the rise? According to Scotpep, the Edinburgh prostitute support group, attacks reported to it have almost doubled from 66 in 2006 to 126 last year. That includes eight reported rapes.

Lothian and Borders Police has also revealed that the number of sex crimes reported to police has soared to more than three a week, with rapes and attempted rapes reaching a ten-year high. The number recorded by police in the city last year reached 158, an increase of 21 on the year before.

Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini admits Scotland has one of the most restrictive definitions of rape in the western world, and has suggested the requirement for corroboration – the reason why one third of all reported rapes are thrown out – be reviewed to determine if it is appropriate or needs to be adjusted. But she, too, admits cases can only be brought to court if the woman is brave enough to report the crime against her.

Yet when 27 per cent of the population think a woman is partly to blame for being raped if she is drunk, 26 per cent think she is partly to blame if she wears revealing clothing, and 32 per cent believe it is her fault if she has flirted, it's no surprise more women don't report the offence.

What is required is to get the proposed reforms on rape laws on to the statute book as quickly as possible – to ensure women feel more confident they will be believed when they report rape, and that those men in the PRE survey will find rape is never without its consequences for the perpetrator.

A sporting dead end
THE Scottish Parliament is hearing testimonies from Scotland's sporting greats as part of its Pathways into Sport inquiry into how more people – especially children – can get active.

It's all very worthy, but one story they won't hear is of a young boy taken from his family in one deprived area of Edinburgh and placed with foster carers in another deprived area.

Of primary school age, he is apparently very talented on the football pitch, and certain youth teams around town are interested in signing him.

But his confidence is so lacking because of his past circumstances that he is too scared to go to and from training on his own – and there is seemingly no-one who can offer him something as simple as a lift. Football could be the way this boy gets his life on track, but it looks like he'll have to pass up his chance – and who knows how many other vulnerable youngsters are in the same situation? His pathway to sport looks like a dead-end.

Running on empty
A FEW years ago I ran a 10k around Hopetoun House for Cancer Research, and boy did it hurt (the loneliness of the long distance runner never appealed mentally or physically) – and that was with all my innards in place.

Catrina Philp, from Baberton, will be taking part in the Great Scottish Run in a few months – without her stomach.

She had it removed after suffering an exceptionally rare condition of diabetes called gastroperesis, yet some two years – and one child – later, she's able to run a 10k. Gives a whole new meaning to running on empty.