GCRC Positions, Services and Influencing Focus

Our Positions

Sexual Entertainment Venues

We do not support the operation of Sexual Entertainment Venues (SEVs). Licenced or not, SEVs permit the commercial sexual exploitation of women and the continued objectification of their bodies. This is in direct conflict with Scotland’s own Equally Safe vision seeking to eradicate violence against women and girls (VAWG). To achieve this there must be increased targeting to redress the attitudes held and formed that provides an unacceptable level of tolerance for VAWG in Scotland. This includes redressing and removing the entitlement held by boys and men to legitimately have the option and opportunity to receive sexual gratification and entertainment within SEVs.

We continue to reject that those economic considerations such as unemployment impact and reduced income generation for an area should play a core part in determining the legitimacy of SEVs’ continued presence. There can always be an economic case made for the existence of any business or industry; however, this should never supersede nor dismiss the ethical or societal one. Whilst we are no economists, we do believe that a supported transition and exit plan for women affected by the removal of SEVs could be done to safeguard their welfare and income requirements.

We never silence the views of any women who feel individually empowered or liberated because they decide to work in SEVs. We wholeheartedly believe women when they tell us this is how they feel. However, we do know from many women that it is the ‘flexibility of hours and the level of income secured’ that often dictates the choice they make. This makes our concern for women in the SEV industry become a labour market one, in addition to a welfare and equalities one. If women were prioritised in being provided with employment, education, training, and welfare support that adequately met their wants and not only needs in all types of sectors, this would also go a long way in achieving equality of both employment choice and purpose which men already benefit from. Finally, the existence of SEVs is often compared to other venues where alcohol and entertainment are provided, with it being advocated that SEVs demand fewer interventions from police, are better managed and create less disruption to surrounding areas. To us,

positive management and public disorder assessment are not reasonable in justifying why SEVs should continue to feature in a country seeking to eradicate VAWG. Moreso, other venues are non comparable as they are not providing commercial services that sexually exploit and objectify women for men’s gratification.

Commercial Sexual Exploitation

We believe that Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is an act of sexual violence. It is hidden in plain sight, like rape, and domestic and sexual violence, meaning the women and girls involved are socially invisible too. Men seek women out to exercise coercion and physical control over them for sexual gratification. An exchange of currency for this act does not make its status a work or employment one. CSE is dangerous not only for its physical violence but also for the physical location it most often takes place in. Be that a street, an alley, a home, a hotel or a hostel; this location is lonely and isolating for the women involved in CSE. Its existence facilitates abuse (verbal and physical), organised exploitation (social and economic) and continued reinforcement of sexual inequality. Most often those involved in CSE have a history of abuse, or childhood neglect or are from low income backgrounds.

As with Sexual Entertainment Venues (SEVs), the case for permitting or legalising CSE continues to be flawed and dangerous. Assertions that bringing CSE above ground or that legalising the world’s oldest profession would improve the physical health of women; decrease violence; promote more open relations with and disclosures to the police; protect children; improve working conditions; reduce victimisation and stigma or improve the economy continue to be flawed and way off the mark. Sex is an intimate and private act. It inherently requires consent and mutual understanding that women are at the mercy of the power a man physically and psychologically holds during this act. After exiting CSE, women often experience further abuse when they are recognised by those that bought them or constantly live in fear of being exposed. This results in further trauma and ongoing complex issues where the past affects the future and impacts the ability to feel safe. Purchasing sex and sexual acts displaces this understanding and places women more at risk. It creates a society where some women are categorised as a service, and this normalises women as sexual objects and increases the risk of rape and sexual assault for all women.

The expectation of a ‘consumer’ is one of the suitable standards. However, unlike traditional services and goods, it is impossible to determine a quality mark or service standard charter for these acts. This would be the case if CSE was legal too. Legalising CSE does not remove this expectation from the man as the ‘consumer’. This means the power therefore always lies with the man.

During COVID we saw an increase in poverty especially for women, which combined with benefit sanctions and increased unemployment has left women with fewer choices. Along with a cultural normalising of sex as work, this has pressured women and girls into CSE, many of whom would have never considered this previously. The full detrimental impact on the physical, emotional, and sexual health of women and girls in society is yet to be seen.

With the demand for sex from men continuing to exist, the expectation is needed this continues to be met. We must challenge this demand more thoroughly and consistently with men, to remove that demand completely.

We, therefore, continue to advocate for the eradication of CSE in Scotland, believing that our society will never eliminate gender based violence, whilst it continues to exist.

Single Sex Spaces

We support women and girls who have experienced sexual violence predominantly on an individual basis by providing emotional and therapeutic support. This support is provided by women workers only, as permitted by Schedule 9 (Part 1) of the Equality Act 2010. Sexual violence often referred to as gender based violence, is most experienced by women and predominantly carried out by men. Gender based violence results in physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering and is recognised by the U.N. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 1993, as doing so.

Since our creation in 1976, between 96 100% of the support we provide is to women and girls. This experience means we are distinctively placed to advocate on behalf of women and girls who have suffered sexual violence, in public, political and private arenas. We continue to believe that the sexual violence experienced by women and girls is a consistent and intolerable manifestation of the misogyny and sexual inequality which has existed for

centuries and is still prevalent today. Whilst women are disproportionately affected by sexual violence, our services will continue to be proportionate towards them.

In the delivery of our services, we seek to ensure that women and girls feel safe, believed, and heard by our workers. When a woman or girl survives sexual violence, they have had their lives changed forever. The experience can never be erased, however, we hope to support and empower women and girls to live their lives positively, and more importantly, to have full control over that.

We are not a generalist rape crisis service. We are specialists in supporting women and girls because of our long service history and experience. This means that we will always put the needs of the individual women and girls we are working with, first. Often this means that we need to create and safeguard single sex spaces for the delivery of services.

Whilst the largest part of our emotional and therapeutic support with women and girls is delivered individually, group activities are a part too, albeit smaller When a woman or girl is recommended by a worker to join a group activity, it is the relationship with the worker, the experiences of the woman or girl and the focus of the group, that will determine the type of space we will provide access to. Sometimes this will mean offering a single sex space for this activity. We will continue to provide this, and we will always carefully consider why we do.

Our Services Focus

We have three specialist services:

• Triage and Survivor Support,

• Justice and Community Services, • Prevention, Training and Consultancy. We also have a Connect Live Service (via phone, email, instant messaging, text, and video) which is delivered by trained volunteers as well as our staff. This Service also brings in referrals to all our specialist services.

Triage and Survivor Support: referral routes and whom we support

Women and girls who are survivors of sexual violence, access this service through several routes. Known as ‘referral pathways’ the most common routes are from the NHS, Police, Housing, Social Work, Education, Voluntary Sector and the women or girls themselves.

We have a waiting list for this service, and in 2021/22 the longest waiting time was 11 months. Demand continues to outweigh our resources in this Service. Through a thorough assessment process, we, therefore, attempt to rationalise our Service and workforce capacity, by determining the need level of the women or girls. This allows us to offer immediate support to those in crisis and unsafe circumstances if appropriate, or to identify if we are suitably placed to provide them with a Service. Sometimes this is not the case.

When a woman or girl is placed on our waiting list, we commit to regular contact with them through our triage and support workers. We are doing everything we can to reduce the waiting time for this Service, recognising however that until we can secure the level of funding required to see everyone at the time of asking for our help, we can’t easily meet that goal.

This Service offers initial support to all survivors. The type of support we can offer following this initial assessment will always be based on the individual assessment, allowing us to identify their needs and if we can or are best placed to provide the emotional and therapeutic support offered.

This Service does not offer emotional and therapeutic support to male survivors. If we receive a call on our Connect Live Service or a referral to our Service for a male survivor, we will do everything we can to provide them or the referral partner with guidance and advice on who is better placed to provide this support. Most importantly though, we will listen and assess needs where possible, and then provide a caring and trauma informed approach in these conversations with men or those referring to us on their behalf.

Our principle aim and fundamental commitment are to always treat survivors of any gender in a non discriminatory, empathetic, and open way.

We recognise that family members, partners and friends of survivors are impacted too. Therefore, we offer time limited emotional and therapeutic support to them when requested. We won’t do this where the family member, partner or friend is abusive.

Justice and Community Services: referral routes and whom we support

Survivors involved in criminal justice processes relating to their rape or sexual violence, seek help from our Justice Service for advocacy and support throughout This includes being alongside survivors as they provide police statements, Video Identification Parades, precognition appointments, and court support. We also act as a liaison between the survivor and services, including Police and the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service. Given the nature of the justice system, and the reality that many cases proceeding to trial can last for years, this means that our Advocates are often alongside survivors for this time frame too. The referral routes are the same as those for our Triage and Survivor Support Service. This Service offers support to all.

Women and girls of black and ethnic minority backgrounds who are survivors of rape or sexual violence seek advocacy and support from our specialist team (known as Ruby). The referral routes are the same as those for our Triage and Survivor Support Service. This includes supporting survivors who have experienced Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Honour Based Violence (HBV), trafficking for Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and forced marriage.

This service offers support only to women and girls.

Prevention, training, and consultancy

This service is primarily targeted at schools, colleges, universities, youth groups and public sector bodies. It takes referrals and requests from these organisations to deliver a range of workshops and sessions mostly focusing on consent, rape culture and being a first responder and bystander A bespoke consultancy service is also available to individuals or organisations from all sectors.

This service delivers to participants of all gender identities. By offering sexual violence awareness workshops to school age children, in educational institutions, community youth groups and additional needs settings the desired outcome is that young people will have a better understanding of sexual consent, sexual coercion and the influence of gender socialisation on their choices and expectations in relationships. Furthermore, the workshops are designed to not only help young people identify potential sexual violence they have or are being exposed to and provide safe, clear, and confidential support pathways, but by offering them we also hope to promote a strong message of zero tolerance to those who would choose or are influenced to perpetrate sexual violence or gender based violence

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Responder and Bystander training is mainly delivered in college and university settings and sits alongside the Scottish Government and National programmes of Equally Safe in Further and Higher Education (ESCU). Currently, staff of all levels, union representatives and student services are being trained as GBV First Responders, offering an empathetic and appropriate response to disclosures of GBV. The outcome of this training seeks to address the NUS research (“Hidden Marks” 2010 & That’s What She said” 2014) into the unacceptable levels of sexual violence and sexual harassment in university buildings and campuses, providing students and staff with safe and clear pathways of support and promoting a message of zero tolerance for GBV in their institution. This training is also offered to organisations out with educational institutions including but not limited to mental health services, homeless and housing associations, addictions, looked after accommodation, and statutory services.

The Bystander Intervention Training is mainly delivered to students, union staff and students services offering an opportunity for those who want to upskill to learn about the

theory of the Bystander Effect; whereby a person would intervene if they witnessed an example of rape culture or an incident of GBV and how they can influence change for the better. The training also builds skills around challenging rape culture, recognising the signs and impacts of GBV and intervening safely before, during and after incidents of GBV. The training further provides clear and appropriate pathways for those who have or are being exposed to GBV.

Our Influencing

In 1976 women came together to establish services for women and girls who were survivors of rape and sexual violence, because they did not exist. This service became Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis. Our founding belief was and continues to be ‘enough is enough. We continue to consider sexual violence experienced by women and girls as a consistent and intolerable manifestation of the misogyny and sexual inequality which has existed for centuries and is still prevalent today. We were never established to provide a generalist rape and sexual violence support service to survivors of both sexes and all genders.

From our creation in 1976 to today, most of the support we provide is to women. This experience means we are distinctively placed to advocate on behalf of women and girls who have suffered sexual violence, in public, political and private arenas. Whilst women are disproportionately affected by sexual violence, our services will continue to be proportionate towards them. This also means that when we present our evidence, experience, positions and recommendations for change and progress we will rely proportionately on the evidence and experience we have.

Our vision is of a society where women and girls are equal, and free from all forms of sexual violence and to achieve this within a feminist, equalities, and human rights framework. We will only make our contribution to achieving this when we give our experience and evidence the prevalence and priority it requires. This is where we derive our integrity and validity, and we will continue to lean on this. Whilst we have certain evidence relating to the provision of advocacy and support to those who are survivors of sexual violence from male, transgender, and non binary communities, we are not in the best position to advocate collectively on their behalf. Instead, we ensure the evidence we do have is shared and understood by those who support and fund us, and we will continue to be allies to these communities and the organisations who are best placed to collectively advocate on their behalf for societal change.