A north-east woman who was raped as a teenager has backed a national campaign to tackle prejudices against those who have been sexually assaulted.
Faye Wilson, who was raped on a night out at Buckie 11 years ago, is supporting Rape Crisis Scotland’s Not Ever campaign.
An advert by the charity, which was shown on TV for the first time last night, features a woman enjoying herself in a bar while wearing a short skirt. A man remarks: “She’s asking for it.”
It then shows an earlier scene in which the woman tells a shop assistant: “I’m going out tonight and I want to get raped.
“I need a skirt that’ll encourage a guy to have sex with me against my will.”
Miss Wilson, who lives at Buckie, said that the public perception of rape victims must improve if more rapists are to be convicted.
The 27-year-old, who never saw anyone charged for her rape, said: “A lot of people blame the victim rather than the perpetrator and this is why there is such a low conviction rate and why this campaign is important.
“Statistics show that one in five Scots believe that a woman is to blame or partially to blame for being raped and that is quite shocking.
“Women should be allowed to wear what they want and do what they want without the fear of getting raped.”
The advert will be shown over the coming months.
A survey of 1,040 over-16s in Scotland in February found that 23% thought a woman can be at least partly responsible if she is drunk, and 17% said a woman bore some responsibility if she wore revealing clothing.
Rape Crisis Scotland national co-ordinator Sandy Brindley said the aim of the campaign was to remove “ingrained prejudices”.
She said: “Even though people genuinely believe they wouldn’t judge a rape victim by what they wear, how drunk they were, or if they had been flirting, they often actually do.
“It doesn’t matter what you wear, how many sexual partners you’ve had, or if you’re out drinking with friends, no one deserves to be raped.”
The campaign is also backed by Scottish Hollywood actress Laura Fraser.
She added: “The advert is very emotive and simple. I support this campaign because I feel we need to understand that our perspective regarding rape is warped.
“I think if we imagine our sister, daughter or mother in this scenario then things will look different.”