Thanks for coming to my fundraising page :) 

I’ve dabbled in running on and off since 2012 and since having Hamish decided I needed a big challenge to get me back into it properly. So I’m running the Cambridge Half Marathon! 

I won’t lie, I am a bit scared! I’ve never attempted to run more than about 12km before. But when I saw that this race is on International Women’s Day, Sunday 8 March, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to push myself with a challenge, and raise money for a cause in dire need of funding and awareness raising. 

My work in the feminist organising space means I’m more aware than most of the stigma and discrimination that faces survivors of rape. I also know how important unrestricted funding is to local organisations doing this kind of work, and so I’d love to raise whatever I can for this organisation and the people they help. 

A few statistics to help you get a picture of the complexities of sexual violence:

In the year to the end of March 2017, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated:

• 20% of women and 4% of men have experienced some type of sexual assault since the age of 16, equivalent to 3.4 million female and 631,000 male victims
• 3.1% of women (510,000) and 0.8% of men (138,000) aged 16 to 59 had experienced a sexual assault in the last year. 

In January 2013, An Overview of Sexual Offending in England and Wales, the first ever joint official statistics bulletin on sexual violence released by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Home Office, revealed

• Approximately 85,000 women and 12,000 men (aged 16 - 59) experience rape, attempted rape or sexual assault by penetration in England and Wales alone every year; that's roughly 11 of the most serious sexual offences (of adults alone) every hour. 
• Only around 15% of those who experience sexual violence report to the police
• Approximately 90% of those who are raped know the perpetrator prior to the offence

More key stats:

• 31% of young women aged 18-24 report having experienced sexual abuse in childhood (NSPCC, 2011) 
• Most women in the UK do not have access to a Rape Crisis Centre (Map of Gaps, 2007)
• A third of people believe women who flirt are partially responsible for being raped (Amnesty, 2005)
• Conviction rates for rape are far lower than other crimes, with only 5.7% of reported rape cases ending in a conviction for the perpetrator. (Kelly, Lovett and Regan, A gap or a chasm? Attrition in reported rape cases, 2005)

I’d be so grateful for anything you might be able to donate. Thank you!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.