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| Jill Saward’s work was vital – but we still misunderstand the trauma of rape | Jill Saward’s work was vital – but we still misunderstand the trauma of rape |
| (6 days later) | |
| Jill Saward, who died this week after a stroke, campaigned against sexual violence for most of her adult life. It’s quite a thing, when you think about it, “campaigning against sexual violence”. It’s quite a thing that sexual violence is something that ever needed to be “campaigned against”. Yet it did – and it still does. | Jill Saward, who died this week after a stroke, campaigned against sexual violence for most of her adult life. It’s quite a thing, when you think about it, “campaigning against sexual violence”. It’s quite a thing that sexual violence is something that ever needed to be “campaigned against”. Yet it did – and it still does. |
| The Ealing vicarage rape, of which she was the victim, was perpetrated in 1986. It wasn’t quite George Orwell’s English murder, but even in the absence of a corpse it bore the hallmarks of what Orwell suggested was a perfect crime in the eyes of the media, containing as it did respectability and “sex”, as sexual violence was still called 30 years ago. The press splashed merrily on the details, as if a ship full of gold had run aground on their private beach. | The Ealing vicarage rape, of which she was the victim, was perpetrated in 1986. It wasn’t quite George Orwell’s English murder, but even in the absence of a corpse it bore the hallmarks of what Orwell suggested was a perfect crime in the eyes of the media, containing as it did respectability and “sex”, as sexual violence was still called 30 years ago. The press splashed merrily on the details, as if a ship full of gold had run aground on their private beach. |
| Three masked men had subjected Saward’s father and boyfriend to a vicious beating. Two of them repeatedly raped the vicar’s daughter. The judge in the trial, considering Jill’s trauma to have been “not so great”, sentenced the two rapists to five years’ imprisonment and the man who had indulged himself in plain, unvarnished nonsexual violence to 10. The judge did later admit that he had been wrong, but not until he’d been told many times, very loudly and in no uncertain terms. | Three masked men had subjected Saward’s father and boyfriend to a vicious beating. Two of them repeatedly raped the vicar’s daughter. The judge in the trial, considering Jill’s trauma to have been “not so great”, sentenced the two rapists to five years’ imprisonment and the man who had indulged himself in plain, unvarnished nonsexual violence to 10. The judge did later admit that he had been wrong, but not until he’d been told many times, very loudly and in no uncertain terms. |
| I don’t know what medical details provoked Jill Saward’s stroke at the age of 51. But I do think it’s worth mentioning, in the context of this tragedy, that there is a strong link between trauma in women and stroke or heart attack. Research suggests that increased risk may be as high as 60%. There’s a heightened risk for men too, though not as strong. That phrase from the judge, that the trauma of rape is “not so great”? It is a great deal more ignorant and wrong than it appeared to be even in 1986. | I don’t know what medical details provoked Jill Saward’s stroke at the age of 51. But I do think it’s worth mentioning, in the context of this tragedy, that there is a strong link between trauma in women and stroke or heart attack. Research suggests that increased risk may be as high as 60%. There’s a heightened risk for men too, though not as strong. That phrase from the judge, that the trauma of rape is “not so great”? It is a great deal more ignorant and wrong than it appeared to be even in 1986. |
| We know who Saward is only because she chose to waive her automatic anonymity – the first woman to do so – in order to campaign more effectively for changes in attitudes and the law. Not everyone thought this was a good thing. | We know who Saward is only because she chose to waive her automatic anonymity – the first woman to do so – in order to campaign more effectively for changes in attitudes and the law. Not everyone thought this was a good thing. |
| When Saward wrote a book about her case in 1991, Julie Davidson in the London Review of Books voiced reservations. “Ever since Freud pulled his finger out of the dyke of Victorian repression, we’ve been obliged to believe that people keep quiet about certain things through guilt, shame, false embarrassment or oppressive feelings of one kind or the other. Popular culture, at any rate, gives no credence to the notion that certain emotions are too delicate and certain thoughts too complex to be tossed randomly into the public domain, where they are almost certainly going to be tainted by misunderstanding and misinterpretation.” | When Saward wrote a book about her case in 1991, Julie Davidson in the London Review of Books voiced reservations. “Ever since Freud pulled his finger out of the dyke of Victorian repression, we’ve been obliged to believe that people keep quiet about certain things through guilt, shame, false embarrassment or oppressive feelings of one kind or the other. Popular culture, at any rate, gives no credence to the notion that certain emotions are too delicate and certain thoughts too complex to be tossed randomly into the public domain, where they are almost certainly going to be tainted by misunderstanding and misinterpretation.” |
| Davidson’s concern was about the general state of confessional culture, which has certainly flourished in the 25 years since. But speaking out is not the same as understanding your emotions and being prepared for your own long-term psychological reactions. There is still a great deal of shame around rape, and a great deal of activity designed to keep it that way – drunk women, flirty women, women in revealing clothing, women who walk home alone late at night: these are all women viewed by many as having played some part in their own assault. | Davidson’s concern was about the general state of confessional culture, which has certainly flourished in the 25 years since. But speaking out is not the same as understanding your emotions and being prepared for your own long-term psychological reactions. There is still a great deal of shame around rape, and a great deal of activity designed to keep it that way – drunk women, flirty women, women in revealing clothing, women who walk home alone late at night: these are all women viewed by many as having played some part in their own assault. |
| People listened to Saward because she was such an “innocent” victim. Even now, a woman whose alleged rape is more messy will be mercilessly pilloried. The woman in the Ched Evans case knows that well. (Ched Evans: footballer found not guilty of rape in retrial.) Saward’s thoughts weren’t “tossed randomly” into the public domain. She spoke because she could. She could because the assault on her was so clearly Not Her Fault. | People listened to Saward because she was such an “innocent” victim. Even now, a woman whose alleged rape is more messy will be mercilessly pilloried. The woman in the Ched Evans case knows that well. (Ched Evans: footballer found not guilty of rape in retrial.) Saward’s thoughts weren’t “tossed randomly” into the public domain. She spoke because she could. She could because the assault on her was so clearly Not Her Fault. |
| Was it good for Saward, the individual, reliving her ordeal again and again as she campaigned, listening to the ordeals of others as she counselled? Probably not. But it was valiant. She deserves admiration. She deserves gratitude. She deserves her death to be honoured. But some thinking needs to be done about this case as well. | Was it good for Saward, the individual, reliving her ordeal again and again as she campaigned, listening to the ordeals of others as she counselled? Probably not. But it was valiant. She deserves admiration. She deserves gratitude. She deserves her death to be honoured. But some thinking needs to be done about this case as well. |
| Saward laid herself on the line to get people to understand that a violent rape by strangers was an extremely serious crime. Yet, the idea that a “proper” rape has to be done by a man who jumps out of the bushes with a knife in his hand still persists very strongly. Women are still badgered and berated and guilt-tripped into sex by men who are supposed to care for them. Wives with headaches are still a joke. I hasten here to say, hashtag not all men. | Saward laid herself on the line to get people to understand that a violent rape by strangers was an extremely serious crime. Yet, the idea that a “proper” rape has to be done by a man who jumps out of the bushes with a knife in his hand still persists very strongly. Women are still badgered and berated and guilt-tripped into sex by men who are supposed to care for them. Wives with headaches are still a joke. I hasten here to say, hashtag not all men. |
| But there’s still a widespread belief that it’s not much to ask, the provision of a vagina to be penetrated, and that the cost to the vagina-provider is small. We need more Sawards: more complicated Sawards, less virginal Sawards. Unfortunately the hostility that would be thrown at women that brave is the vile, frightening and traumatic evidence that such women are still needed so very, very much. | But there’s still a widespread belief that it’s not much to ask, the provision of a vagina to be penetrated, and that the cost to the vagina-provider is small. We need more Sawards: more complicated Sawards, less virginal Sawards. Unfortunately the hostility that would be thrown at women that brave is the vile, frightening and traumatic evidence that such women are still needed so very, very much. |
| Being able to make clear the damage done by rape will not stop rapists. On the contrary. But it might stop the excusers of rapists – people like the judge in Saward’s case – from believing that sexual violence is something easily moved on from, because the trauma is “not so great”. | Being able to make clear the damage done by rape will not stop rapists. On the contrary. But it might stop the excusers of rapists – people like the judge in Saward’s case – from believing that sexual violence is something easily moved on from, because the trauma is “not so great”. |
| This article was updated on 27 January 2017. Mr Evans has asked us to make clear in the article that he was acquitted following a retrial in October 2016, which we are happy to do. |