To piggyback somewhat on Nora’s post about the myth of false rape claims, there’s some interesting stuff about rape myths coming out of the UK this week. While doing my own rape myth research (for the newest incarnation of the SAFER website, actually) I found this brief articles in the Telegraph on educating prosecutors about rape myths. Excerpt below:

“Rape myths to be challenged in court by prosecutors”

Prosecutors have been told to “robustly” challenge myths surrounding rape victims, such as women are asking to be attacked if they drink, when in front of juries.

Other myths include victim provoke rape by the way they dress, rape is a crime of passion and if the victim did not scream then it was not rape.

Revised policy guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service pledges it will not allow such stereotypes to influence its decisions and told prosecutors to dispel such attitudes when in the courtroom.

Other myths to be challenged are the way a victim acts proves whether she was raped or not, victims cry rape if they regret having sex or want revenge, only gay men are raped and prostitutes cannot be raped.

A Home Office-commissioned poll revealed earlier this month that two-fifths of the public believe that a woman should be held at least partly responsible for being sexually assaulted or raped if she was flirting with the man before the attack.

Considering that there has been a lot of bad news about how rape victims are treated coming out of England (not that it’s any better here, mind you), this is good to hear. The prosecution rate of rape cases is already low enough; it would be great if once the case made it to the courtroom, a jury’s belief in rape myths didn’t have an impact on the verdict. It seems that an effort has been made in the past to educate juries about myths. I’d love to see if there have been or will be changes in conviction rates.

Back to the “Home Office-comissioned poll” cited by the Telegraph–those are upsetting numbers that deserve some discussion. Unfortunately, I’m a little too busy at my day-job to go there today, but there is a fabulous post over at Hoyden About Town that references the poll and offers a ton of other stats and facts on rape myths and their acceptance. It’s smart and thorough and I highly suggest checking it out.