Peterborough charity says we're in an "epidemic" of violence against women
Our #ReportIt campaign looks at the scale of the issue and how the media might be able to help
There's an "epidemic" of violence against women and girls, and the media could be doing more to help, according to one Peterborough charity.
We can reveal record numbers of women are coming forward to report sexual assault across the UK, as all this week we look at what we in the media can do to tackle the issue.
More than 70,000 women contacted police in the year ending June 2022 across England and Wales to report being raped.
Mandy Geraghty, from Peterborough Women's Aid, says the media plays a vital role when cases of violence against women are reported on:
'The media needs to look at how they're reporting and focus more on the perpetrator. We are literally in an epidemic of violence against women and girls, and it feels to me that the media are feeding that and not preventing it.'
'A lot of the time we hear in the media "she continued the relationship, or she chose not to leave." That's victim blaming, and has no context - we know that women don't chose to stay in abusive relationships.'
She added that the media can have a positive impact if reporting is done responsibly:
'They want to be reading reports that are holding perpetrators to account and, in turn, that educates not only young women and girls but boys and men - to say that kind of behaviour isn't excusable in any way, and the media will hold you to account for it.'
#ReportIt
For the next five days, through interviews with support charities, survivors and the police, plus the latest scientific research, our #ReportIt campaign will look at how significant the problem of violence against women is and how better reporting by journalists could help reduce the number of incidents.
Today (20th March) we're hearing from charities supporting survivors.
Violence against women: The extent of the problem
According to the latest data, shared by the End Violence Against Women and Girls Coalition (EVAWGC), 70,600 reports of rape were made to the police across England and Wales, in the year to June 2022.
That marks a 20 per cent increase from 2019-20 when 59,046 were reported and is double the number recorded in the year to March 2016.
Just last week (March 14) the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) published its first ever assessment of VAWG within the police, revealing more than 1,000 complaints were made against officers and staff relating to their treatment of women across a six month period.
The statistics also reveal that only 30 per cent of those cases resulted in any action being taken.
Meanwhile a survey carried out last year in Bristol, one of the UK's biggest cities, found 97 per cent of women there have felt harassed at some point in their lives.
Therefore, despite an increased awareness sparked by widely publicised incidents such as the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa in 2021, all the available statistics suggest VAWG is getting worse, not better.
The charity view
All across the UK charitable groups work to help survivors deal with the trauma of what they've been through.
They all say the same thing; that the issue is massive.
"In our area alone last year we supported 4,300 survivors, which is a huge number," said Claire Bloor, chief executive of Somerset and Avon Rape and Sexual Abuse Support (SARSAS).
"Our referrals also increased by 37 per cent last year and that's pretty reflective of the whole nation actually.
"We know that one in four women and one in 20 men will have experienced rape or sexual abuse at some point in their lives, so there are huge, huge numbers of people who have been impacted by sexual violence."
How the media can help
For the past year we have been talking to charities, survivors, the police and scientific researchers about how the language we as journalists use can impact survivors and the wider public.
They are all clear on their view.
"Good reporting can really, really help with people accessing support," said Jayne Butler, chief executive of Rape Crisis.
"What we're trying to encourage outlets (to do) is to really think about that, the way that language really matters and the way language can really change a meaning, or an intention of how something is read, that starts to suggest someone was at fault verses not being at fault for example."
Heard, a charity that until recently was known as On Road Media, helps connect journalists wanting to cover violence against women, with survivors.
"Journalists can be quite insensitive with not knowing how to approach people with these experiences," Chiara Vare from Heard said.
"It's definitely something that needs to change, there needs to be more awareness on how to do this work."
Claire, from SARSAS, says it is "troubling" how the media in general views women.
"How we dismiss and how we over sexualise young women is a really serious issue and language that's used in the media can really contribute to that," she said.
She says the sensationalisation of cases is also a big issue.
"What we see is beautiful young white woman are raped and that's a story.
"Black women in equally horrific circumstances are raped and that's not a story that anyone cares about...
"(Journalists need to work on) finding those stories or discussions around the actual situation, which is that five out of six people will be abused or raped by a partner."
Tomorrow we will be hearing from survivors themselves to get their views.
To find more on our campaign search #ReportIt on social media.
If you are a survivor of abuse, you can access support services via this link.