The Times- Rape Crisis founder backs Rowling’s trauma centre
Rape Crisis founder backs Rowling’s trauma centre
The Times
A founder of Scotland’s rape crisis network has welcomed JK Rowling’s decision to fund a new centre offering women-only services for survivors of sexual assault.
The Harry Potter author has founded Beira’s Place in Edinburgh after expressing concern that “trans inclusive” policies adopted by other support organisations had led to women failing to seek help.
Ros Whyte helped to establish a centre in Glasgow more than 45 years ago that led to the foundation of Rape Crisis Scotland, a charity founded by the Scottish government.
“I was delighted to hear of JK Rowling’s generosity in relation to Beira’s Place, which offers support and advocacy for women who have experienced sexual violence,” Whyte told the Daily Mail. “The new centre will be run by women for women.
“It is disgraceful that a service has been used by the Scottish government for ideological reasons by making funding conditional on men being included in the service. In reality, this means men were to be included in a service set up by women to help women who had been raped or sexually abused by men.”
Rowling’s initiative was announced as the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill came to a vote at Holy-rood and seemed certain to become law. The legislation aims to make it easier for trans people as young as 16 to switch gender. Critics say it could potentially put women at risk from violent men who could abuse the proposed self-identification process to acquire a gender recognition certificate.
Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, welcomed Rowling’s initiative and urged the Scottish government to publicly fund the service.
Alsalem said: “We always say that the prevention and response to violence against women requires an all-society approach, so it is great to see different actors who have the means, including private individuals, play their part.
“It should not be forgotten that it is the duty of the state to do so, and also [that it is] ultimately responsible for ensuring that such services are publicly funded and available.”
Rowling, 57, who has written about suffering sexual and domestic abuse in her twenties, hopes that Beira’s Place “will enable more women to process and recover from their trauma”.
The provision of single-sex services is a key battleground of the gender reform bill. Most domestic violence and rape support services in Scotland are “trans inclusive” and state-funded.
Rape Crisis Scotland said: “It is crucial that the life-saving support offered by Rape Crisis centres is available to trans and non-binary people. All Rape Crisis services in Scotland offer support to trans women and have done so for 15 years. There has not been a single incident of anyone abusing this.”
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