Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre: Forty Years of Feminist Support and Activism

Aileen Christianson featured in a 1990 issue of The Evening News, focusing on Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre.

This December, we hear from Eileen Maitland of Rape Crisis Scotland, and editor of Woman to Woman: An Oral History of Rape Crisis in Scotland 1976-1991, about the history of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre - from opening in 1978, to our current work in 2018.

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On the night of October 31st 1978, the Edinburgh Women’s Liberation Movement organised a show of feminist defiance which was described in that day’s Glasgow Herald as marking “the start of a week of action by the movement to show how they intend to fight back together against rape.”

The article quoted a spokeswoman who commented: ‘Rape is a threat which any woman, old or young, faces at any time. In Edinburgh between 400 and 800 rapes and sexual assaults occur every year, but only a small number are reported to the police…We will take over the Meadows tonight to assert our right to walk freely without harassment at any time, anywhere…’ *

Thousands of leaflets and stickers were distributed throughout the city during this week of action, but the momentum generated by these events went much further, and led to the establishment of the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Group, a women’s collective which set up and ran a centre for women who had been raped or sexually assaulted.

“The centre offers a comprehensive service giving confidential support and advice on medical and legal steps that should be taken after an attack.” Ernest McIntyre reported in The Glasgow Herald on October 31st, 1978.

A stall in Princes Street marked the centre’s opening, advertising the services on offer, and exposure was widened via coverage in the Evening News, where Edinburgh Rape Crisis took every opportunity to respond to requests and gain publicity. Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre was based initially in Forth Street, and moved later on to a chilly basement in Broughton Street – not far from where the centre is currently based, nearly 40 years later.

In addition to the direct support they gave to women survivors of sexual violence, the Edinburgh collective, more than any other centre then or subsequently, became heavily involved in lobbying for legal change:

“There was a fair bit of debate about legal changes at that time…Around evidence, around issues of corroboration…and the whole question of…anonymity”* said collective member Sheila Gilmore, whose article 'Is rape a problem worth being concerned about in Scotland?' appeared in the first issue of Scottish feminist publication MsPrint and covered many of the challenges survivors faced, including police practice and rape within marriage, and summarised the typical conduct of a rape trial.

It’s a sad fact that four decades later, in spite of some advances made in terms of resourcing, changes to the law & policing and in public understanding around issues like child sexual abuse, the issues faced by survivors in Edinburgh and the Lothians (and everywhere else across Scotland) in 1978, particularly with regard to legal responses and public attitudes, continue to confront the many people who experience sexual violence every year.

In 2017-18, 1,086 sexual crimes were reported in the City of Edinburgh, with a further 134 and 179 in East and Mid Lothian respectively – and, as in 1978, the true number of incidents is likely to be far higher. Corroboration still acts as a barrier to justice for rape complainers in Scotland. Attitudes that judge and blame survivors is still something we continually need to challenge. And statistics show that the number of sexual crimes reported continues to increase year on year.

Edinburgh Rape Crisis has never been more desperately needed, but the centre has come a long way in its first four decades, and the astonishing range of services and projects the centre now runs are testament to the dedication of a team still firmly grounded in feminist ideals as were their sisters in the ‘70’s.

40 years on from first being established as a group of volunteers founded on a premise of women supporting women, the centre now provides support to survivors across Edinburgh and East and Mid Lothian, and is fully trans inclusive. It offers a dedicated specialist support service for young survivors, an advocacy service for survivors navigating the criminal justice system, and prevention outreach education in East, Mid, West Lothian and Edinburgh City as part of Rape Crisis Scotland's national prevention network. Ultimately, from 1978 to 2018, day in, day out, Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre have been, and continue to, work to challenge attitudes, and change lives.

(*Source: ‘Woman to Woman: an Oral History of Rape Crisis in Scotland)