Professionalising the Response to Rape

Abstract

Over the last decade we have witnessed some very public changes in police policy around rape, child abuse and, more recently, ‘wife abuse’. There has also been a massive growth in professional service provision for women who have experienced male sexual violence. This growth was in response to feminist criticisms of the inadequate and negative treatment women received from the criminal justice system and the medical and mental health services they turned to for help. Feminists were particularly critical of police attitudes towards women reporting rape and campaigned vigorously for changes in police practice. Many of the practical changes called for have been implemented by police forces and have come to represent a new and more sensitive police approach to rape investigations. However, in this chapter I will examine the changing features of professional service provision and argue that it represents only a limited response to feminist concerns. The practical improvements feminists campaigned for have largely been met, but the political analysis of male sexual violence underpinning the service response has not changed. Rape has been redefined as a medical issue requiring professional expertise. The result has been a growth in service provision that has sought to pathologise and individualise women’s reactions to rape.