Grazia has launched a campaign for more help for rape victims with the provocative title “Now We’re Asking for It”.
The
move, the first campaign from the Emap weekly glossy, follows the
Amnesty International survey that last week revealed one in three
Britons believed that women who were flirty on a night out, dressed
provocatively, had too much to drink or did not say “no”
clearly enough were at least partially to blame if they were victims of sexual assault.
Editor
Jane Bruton said the magazine had also carried out its own research,
discovering that many rape helplines were permanently on voicemail and
that only 520 of the UK’s 2,000 CPS lawyers were trained to deal with
rape cases.
Bruton added: “We are horrified and alarmed by these findings and believe this is a real issue for our readers.
“By
launching this campaign we hope to encourage people to sign a petition
to persuade the Government that the current help on offer for victims
is not enough – and that by ‘asking for it’, we can push for change.
“We
are aiming to achieve funding for a 24-hour nationwide rape line, more
specialist training for prosecution lawyers and rape referral centres
in every town in the UK. We also want to see the plans for referral
centres speeded up.”
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