Research that found one fifth of people believe women often exaggerate or lie about rape has been described as a “wake up call” for Irish society.
Earlier this year, Eurobarometer surveyed people across the EU on whether they think that “Women often make up or exaggerate claims of abuse or rape”.
In Ireland, 5% replied that they “totally agree” with the statement, while a further 15% said they “tend to agree with it”.
32% of people said they “tend to disagree”, a further 36% said they “strongly disagree” and the rest said they were unsure.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Rachel Morrogh of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said the statistics were concerning.
“There is a worrying level of victim blaming that still exists here,” she said.
“We have considerable work to do to change those attitudes and create a country where victims of sexual violence feel safe and they feel supported in telling someone what happened to them without fear of shame and judgement and lack of belief.”
Ms Morrogh added that the idea that women often make up false rape claims is “simply not true” and the idea that they do is harmful.
“When we look at the rate of people who think that, it’s fallen slightly since the last barometer survey in 2016 but only by a couple of percentage points,” she said.
“So, the true the reality is that making up or exaggerating rape claims is extremely rare.
“What’s not rare is rape and these false beliefs, they keep actual rapists from having to face justice because myths stop victims coming forward because they have very valid fears about not being believed.”
Education
Despite this, Ms Morrogh said she feels attitudes in society have begun to evolve and that recent court cases have helped educate people.
“I think that it’s important that we aren’t fatalistic about the issue,” she said.
“We don’t wring our hands and say those negative attitudes are intractable because they’re not.
“It’s just really hard and persistent work because those attitudes weren’t created overnight and the research is a wake up call for all of us.”
Ms Morrogh said that overall Ireland is “making progress” but that it has been “far too slow”.
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Main image shows a protest about violence against women. Picture by: Brendan Donnelly/Alamy Live News
