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The history of the Rape Crisis movement in Scotland

The Rape Crisis movement in Scotland has been working for a society free from sexual violence for over 40 years.

The Rape Crisis movement in Scotland began with a handful of women who wanted to ‘do something’. This is the spirit in which Rape Crisis Centres across Scotland delivered support to almost 10,000 survivors last year.

This International Women’s Day, we would like to pay tribute to the remarkable work done by women who have worked, volunteered, and advocated for change, within the movement over the years.

Our new interactive timeline charts the history of the Rape Crisis movement in Scotland and plots it against other significant social developments and political moments over the past four decades.

Rape Crisis Scotland and our 17 member Rape Crisis Centres continue to fight to prevent sexual violence from happening, and for better societal, legal, and political responses to sexual violence.

The first Rape Crisis Centre in Scotland opened in Glasgow in 1976. The Centre began with a single phone line and notebook. This was later known as Strathclyde Rape Crisis and is now Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis.

Two years later, a major march was organised in Edinburgh by the Edinburgh Women’s Liberation Movement. The Glasgow Herald reported on the march under the headline ‘Women band together to scare off rapists.’ In the same year, Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre opened.

The 1970s and 1980s were a period of significant change in policy and law around sexual violence. In 1980, the handling of a rape case in Glasgow concerning a survivor known as Carol X brought the issue of rape and survivors’ access to justice to national attention. The mishandling of the case led to the then Lord Advocate losing his job and to an unprecedented private prosecution. The case also had a major impact on how rape trials were prosecuted, including a survivor’s right to be kept informed of the progress of a case.

Progress was also being made at an international level. In 1981, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was instituted. CEDAW has been ratified by 189 states.

In 1982, the Rape Crisis Centre for Central Scotland opened. This covered Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, and Stirling. This is now Forth Valley Rape Crisis. Aberdeen Rape Crisis also opened in June 1982. The Centre originated as a consciousness-raising women’s group which had actively campaigned against the Corrie Bill on Abortion.

The first prosecutions of men who raped their wives happened in 1982. Importantly, both couples were living apart at the times the crimes were committed. The law was only changed to allow for prosecution of a man who raped his wife while they were living together in 1989. Marital rape was a central issue that Rape Crisis Centres, particularly in Edinburgh, lobbied around through legal campaigning.

In 1984, Dundee Rape Crisis opened its doors, followed by Kilmarnock Rape Crisis (now the Star Centre in 1987). Also in 1987, local women’s movement groups including Rape Crisis and Women’s Aid organised the Conference on Violence Against Women in Glasgow. Over 260 women attended, and it was the first conference associated with the Women’s Liberation Movement since 1978.

Guidelines for police investigation of sexual assault were published in 1985. Rape Crisis Centres contributed significantly to their development.

In 1996, the constitution of the Scottish Rape Crisis Network was approved. This became Rape Crisis Scotland in 2002. Rape Crisis Scotland aims to end sexual violence in Scotland through public campaigning, justice reform, prevention, and through promoting high-quality support for survivors through the Rape Crisis National Service Standards.

The Rape Crisis network is still growing and developing. Moray Rape Crisis Centre opened in 2018 and meant that every area of Scotland is now covered by Rape Crisis provision.

The timeline of the Rape Crisis movement in Scotland is testament to the strength in taking action together. It charts a movement for change based on extraordinary efforts by many individuals working together to respond to the pain and wrongs experienced by so many survivors of sexual violence and abuse in Scotland. Along the way, women involved in Rape Crisis have fought for increased support, changes to policy and legislation, and greater public awareness of rape and sexual abuse in Scottish society.

Across this time, we have remained committed to working together with a shared vision of ending sexual violence while we recognise multiple feminisms as our work and scale as a movement has expanded.

Our thanks go to every woman who has contributed in an y way to the Rape Crisis movement in Scotland. The movement has made a huge impact on the lives of survivors in Scotland and on societal attitudes to rape and sexual violence.