Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

Author Archives: Suzanna Austin

97000 people per year

By Suzanna Austin | Tue 27th November 2018 - 11:55 am

Content warning: Sexual violence

In England and Wales every year approximately 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped; that’s roughly 11 rapes (of adults alone) every hour of every day. When you look at the number of adults sexually assaulted each year in England and Wales that number jumps to nearly half a million. Economically the cost of sexual offences in a year is estimated to be £8.46bn.

1 in 5 adult women will or has experienced some form of sexual violence. The numbers of people affected by sexual violence are so large that it is doubtful that there is a single person in Britain unaffected in some way – whether they realise or not is a different matter.

Along with societal taboos and much needed anonymity, issues surrounding sexual violence crimes remain very shrouded in mystery. It is this that helped me decide to share some of what it feels like and how the tentacles of power keep inflicting pain long after the initial crime.

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged 16 days of activism to end gender based violence, featured and sexual violence | 8 Comments

Most Read

Op-eds

The law has never told you which door to use (Tanya Park)
Lincolnshire – a flawed reform of local government and why it matters (Nigel Lindsay)
Welcome to my day: 3 August 2026 – some thoughts on migration… (Mark Valladares)
Tom Arms’ World Review (Tom Arms)
Observations of an Expat: Gaza Sceptic (Tom Arms)

Advert

Recent Comments

cim
Agreed with a lot of the above, "compulsory voting" is just a way to mask the symptom that there's not much in our current democracy that gets people excited to...
SteveTrevethan
Thanks to all for a most interesting and relevant article and set of comments! From the information and possibilities therein contained, is it the case that ...
David Evans
Let's be honest here. The whole thing is a political carve up, by an instinctively centralising and authoritarian Labour party, emboldened by a huge parliament...
George Thomas
Perhaps my most illiberal "opinion" is that automatic freedom of movement for immigrants is possibly a bad thing*. I remember speaking with a recent refugee who...
Chloe
'underlying emotions are fear, resentment and inadequacy relating to their own lives' Are you saying the residents of Crowborough or Bicester who've protested ...