On air: Can rape ever be the victim’s fault?

Heba: Since this blog topic  first appeared on our blog on Monday, the number of voices weighing into the debate has grown right round the world here, here and here.

‘rape-rape’ ?

A lot of you have been commenting on this post about the use of the word ‘rape’ on Monday’s programme. And today Whoopi Goldberg said “I know it wasn’t rape-rape”, defending Roman Polanski on a chat show.

Rape : South Africa’s shame.

South Africa is a democratic country with a proud tradition of overcoming apartheid and struggling for human rights.

 So why does it have such a high incidence of rape?

 I’m Jerry from Newshour and we’ll be talking about this later today.

Why are we covering the topic this week?

On air: Should you be snooping on your neighbours?

He’s been labelled the British Josef Fritzl. Yesterday a man was given 25 life sentences for repeatedly raping his two daughters over more than two decades, fathering nine children by them.

On air: Can a woman’s behaviour make her more vulnerable to rape?

Earlier this week, media attention was drawn to a British rape victim who was due to receive 25% less compensation because she had been drinking before she was raped. In her case, the verdict was overturned. The Ministry of Justice has since said that “a victim of rape is not in any way culpable due to alcohol consumption”. But 14 other rape victims in the UK during the last year had their compensation reduced because they had been drinking.

So can the way a woman behaves be a factor in rape? Are women “inviting” rape by the way they dress or act? If a woman signals in some way that she’s available, does that mean she’s “asking for it”, or is this just an excuse?