Merseyside Police And Liverpool City Council Apologise After Appearing To 'Victim Blame' In Sexual Assault Campaign

The tweets have since been deleted from social media.
Merseyside Police and Liverpool City Council have apologised after appearing to 'victim blame' in sexual assault campaign.
Merseyside Police and Liverpool City Council have apologised after appearing to 'victim blame' in sexual assault campaign.
PA Archive/PA Images

Merseyside Police and Liverpool City Council have apologised for appearing to blame victims of sexual assault by posting on social media that people should “step in” to prevent women becoming vulnerable on nights out.

The original tweet read: “She told her mates she’d had enough. The bar staff knew he shouldn’t have served her that last shot. Her mates should have gone outside with her. Shouldn’t have left her on her own in that state. Know when to step in.”

The post also contained a video titled “know when to step in” as part of a wider campaign to encourage friends to look after each other on nights out, with the hashtag #NoMeansNo also included in the tweet.

RASA Merseyside, a charity which offers support to those affected by rape or sexual assault, released a statement saying its board of trustees did not support the police and council’s joint campaign.

RASA Board of Trustees does not support this campaign or the message it is giving to survivors and victims of #rape and their friends and acquaintances. Please remove all connection and delete.

— RASA Merseyside (@rasa_merseyside) August 17, 2018

Dear Men - just because we may have had a few drinks - does not mean we are freely available for non-consensual sex with you - it's called rape. If you see a drunk woman - don't rape her....

— RASA Merseyside (@rasa_merseyside) August 17, 2018

The police and council have now removed the tweets from their social media accounts and posted a statement apologising for how the original messages were perceived.

The statement issued on behalf of Citysafe, Liverpool’s Community Safety Partnership, said: “It was not our intention to blame anyone who has been subject to sexual assault, rape or any other crime.”

“The only person ever responsible for making the decision to rape is the perpetrator.

“We apologise for not making that clear in our posts on social media.

“The aim of the campaign was to build on the No means No campaign and the scenario chosen is based on incidents that have been reported by victims and victim charities where predatory men have targeted women they perceive to be vulnerable in some way.”

While many were happy that the original posts had been deleted, some questioned how the campaign was approved in the first place.

This is absolutely awful.
Seriously, how did anyone read this and not step in before it was sent?
IT.
IS.
NOT.
THE.
FAULT.
OF.
THE.
VICTIM.

— English Bot (@teachingtipsuk) August 17, 2018

It’s right that @lpoolcouncil and @MerseyPolice have removed their victim blaming tweets.

But I’m concerned about the attitudes and understanding of sexual violence that allowed the campaign to come to fruition in the first place.

Drinking is not a crime, rape is. pic.twitter.com/hiWtLwNU2N

— Rachael O'Byrne (@rachael_obyrne) August 18, 2018

A bit of victim blaming to kick off the weekend! How about... he knew his personality changed when he drank. Staff could see he was getting volatile but continued to served him. His mates could have stepped in & told him to leave a vulnerable disinterested girl alone. #NoMeansNo

— Siobhan Tatum (@Siobhan__Tatum) August 17, 2018

Hey @lpoolcouncil I’m glad you deleted your tweet but you should surely know that it’s never okay to blame the victim. Rape culture demeans everybody but the rapist. I thought you could use some inspiration for your next campaign: pic.twitter.com/j60o9BzXsy

— Lego Kerry (@kerryeccs) August 19, 2018

In the joint statement released by the police and council, it explains that a partnership group which includes people from sexual violence support services, the council, police and local charities was consulted during the video’s development.

The storyline of the video was also tested on focus groups, the statement adds, saying that no one consulted felt the campaign blamed victims “but when viewed in isolation the tweet has been perceived in that way and we are sorry for any distress caused”.

We have removed a post and video entitled 'Know when to step in' and Citysafe, Liverpool's Community Safety partnership, have issued the following statement: pic.twitter.com/YwvYixweZj

— Merseyside Police (@MerseyPolice) August 18, 2018

The statement continues: “In light of the feedback we have now received we have now removed the posted and will ensure the comments are carefully considered before future preventative campaigns are launched.”

Close

What's Hot