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Why women don't need Ched Evans' advice about rape

Footballer Ched Evans was cleared of rape - Nick Edwards
Footballer Ched Evans was cleared of rape - Nick Edwards

Of all people who could offer women advice on sexual consent, Ched Evans is not an obvious choice. The footballer was convicted of raping a 19-year-old woman back in 2011 and jailed for five years. Last year, after a retrial, he was cleared of the crime - and is now using his platform to warn women about ‘real rapists.’

“A lot of work needs to be done in relation to consent because I definitely think that the police have an agenda to find ways to charge people and the easiest one is the drunk one,” he told The Times. “I also think that women need to be made aware of the dangers they can put themselves in because there are genuine rapists out there who prey on girls who have been drinking.”

His ‘advice’ is nothing new. Women and girls have been told for decades that they shouldn’t drink too much/go out too late/wear that short skirt in case a predator takes advantage. Sometimes such wisdom is presented in a matter-of-fact way that can't be argued with - everyone (man or woman) knows that alcohol affects our faculties.

But sometimes it is offered in a way that border on victim blaming - as though the way to stop rape is for women to alter their behaviour, rather than perpetrators changing theirs.

Evans’ advice falls somewhere in between - but its criminal that it comes from him. 

The 28-year-old was, of course, cleared of rape. But his case divided the nation - particularly last year's retrial, which focused on the sexual history of the woman involved. That move was condemned by many, with Vera Baird, police and crime commissioner for Northumbria and former solicitor general, saying it showed British law had gone back 30 years.

Much of the five-year case turned on the question of whether the woman, then 19, was too drunk to consent. She had been having sex in a hotel room in Rhyl with Evans’ friend, footballer Clayton McDonald, when Evans walked in. He said that McDonald asked "Can my friend join in?" The prosecution claimed that the woman - who cannot remember the night of the incident - was too drunk to consent to sex but Evans insisted that she replied ‘yes’. 

Back in 2011, a jury agreed with the prosecution. But in 2016, after new evidence emerged, the decision was reversed. During Evans's new trial, the court made the rare move of allowing the jury to hear, in detail, about the woman's sexual past. It argued that her history was similar enough to the Evans case to be relevant.

The assumption that all rapists hide in dark alleyways waiting for their victims just isn't true

Afterwards, her father said: “It was like she was the one on trial – not the person accused of committing the crime.”

The case has since led to a review into the law that allowed the woman’s sexual history to be mentioned in court, amid fears that admissibility of a victim’s sexual history will discourage others from reporting sexual assaults.

Given this context surrounding his case, it is unfathomable that Evans now feels it is appropriate to talk about what women need to do to avoid “genuine rapists” - especially given that in the past 12 months, he has rebuilt his life in a way that young woman never can.

Evans is now playing football professionally again, for Sheffield United, and is planning to marry his partner Natasha Massey, with whom he has a son. Meanwhile, the woman he was accused and ultimately cleared of raping has been forced to change her identity five times, after thousands illegally named her on social media. She is now trying to raise money to move to Australia and start a new life.

Ched Evans with partner Natasha Massey - Credit: Nick Edwards
Ched Evans with partner Natasha Massey Credit: Nick Edwards

The footballer has previously said that he feels “genuinely sorry for her” and that they are “both victims” - but his latest comments are another blow to her.

There are plenty of people who are qualified to speak to women about sexual consent - from rape survivors to sexual health experts. If Evans really wants to make a difference and help victims of sexual assault, he should brush up on his statistics, rather than making ill informed comments that fall into the realm of rape myths - suggesting that most potential rapists 'prey' on their victims on nights out.

The assumption that all rapists hide in dark alleyways waiting for their victims just isn't true. The majority of assaults are committed by persons known the victim and often in their homes.

Instead of resorting to scaremongering - “If a drunk man sleeps with a drunk woman, there is only one person that could be charged and that is the man” - Evans could speak honestly to his young fans about consent. That is the message he should be spreading. 

Because if the footballer really wanted to prevent sexual assault from happening, he wouldn’t talk of the dangers of alcohol - he would explain to young men that when you have sex with someone who is too drunk, tired or frightened to tell you how they feel about it, then it’s not sex: it’s rape. 

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