Victims are being failed by police officers who still believe in rape myths

Rape myths feed into mistaken beliefs that victims will fight back, but for CPS prosecutor Blake, the idea that people experiencing sexual assault will scream or protest is another “really dangerous and harmful assumption” and it’s well established that trauma can also cause people to freeze.

Still, victims find themselves in a double bind. Those who don’t fight back are subject to police biases that mean they are less likely to be believed as credible, yet those who do often have other myths heaped upon them. While Amy does recall fighting back; this didn’t stop officers from telling her that she wasn’t raped because, in their eyes, she “likely” consented.

On the flip side of presumptions about victim responses are another set of myths orbiting the idea that victims are “asking for it.” In other words, they must have consented because of how they behaved before the rape – from sexting the suspect or drinking alcohol to wearing revealing clothing.

“What did you think was going to happen when you went with him?”

This is what Mia*, 29, was asked by an officer after giving her account of rape. “There were male detectives assigned to my case who I felt absolutely believed that girls are ‘asking for it’,” she explains.

The impact of this kind of victim-blaming is extensive, says Gekoski. As well as deterring reporting, it could lead to victims dropping out later in the criminal justice process, making cases less likely to go to trial. Last year, 42% victims withdrew, more than double the amount who withdrew six years earlier.

For those that do go through the system, the effect of rape myths continues to ricochet. William Webster, a psychology lecturer at Sunderland University, agrees that “if you have an officer who endorses rape myths, the potential for that to impact on how they conduct that investigation could potentially be massive.” This is confirmed by Operation Soteria’s year one report, which concludes that the effect of cultural attitudes on investigative decision-making “points to a system that is failing and needs a radical overhaul.”

As well as investigative impacts, Dr Kelly Johnson, an academic linked with Soteria, says the prevalence of police rape myths could impact victim wellbeing and result in legal violations. “It might cause additional trauma if you’re engaging with the police and you feel like you’re being judged or blamed for sexual violence, but even if you’re not re-traumatised, it’s fundamentally wrong and possibly in violation of your rights and the correct application of the law.”

Sex workers, intoxicated victims, and those with mental health issues were among those found to be particularly vulnerable to the effects of police-endorsed rape myths.

As for why this is happening, Johnson says there is increasing evidence that officers are anticipating jury adherence to rape myths. As a result, these myths could inform police decisions about which cases should be charged.

Although a focus on ‘bad apples’ risks obscuring the cultural nature of the issue, individual misconceptions are a problem too, and “rape myths are firmly embedded in police culture,” says Gekoski, whose preliminary research suggests that men and older officers might be more susceptible.