Thread by @Wecantconsentto

Hello to new followers. We Can't Consent To This was a response to the short sentence of 3years 8 months given in Dec 2018 to the man who killed Natalie Connolly. He claimed that many of her injuries were due to consensual rough sex.

wecantconsenttothis.uk

Natalie is not alone. We've searched every news and legal archive we can to find there are 59 UK women and girls killed by men who claim that they consented to the violence. And many more injured in non-fatal assaults.

#WeCantConsentToThis

And here is what we found: In UK cases, everyone who uses this defence is male. Many have extremely serious previous convictions for violence. Those in relationships were often abusive and the women often leaving the relationship

https://twitter.com/Wecantconsentto/status/1196760473988976640

The earliest UK use of a "sex game" claim was 1972, and there has been a tenfold increase in the use of these claims since the year 2000. There were *six* UK women in courts in last ten days in violence claimed to be consensual - both homicides and non-fatal assaults.

&despite the law being "clear" -that you can't consent (in England & Wales) to more than transient or trifling injury- in every single non-fatal assault this century, the woman says she didn't consent to the violence, the man says she did.

and these claims in a defence *work*

45% of the time, this claim in a homicide defence results in a lesser charge of manslaughter, a lighter sentence, or the death not being treated as a crime at all.

And in the last 5 years, it's worse, with 50% success in "sex game" claims:
wecantconsenttothis.uk/news/do-these-…

But do not lose heart. In January we shared our findings with Harriet Harman, and she worked with Mark Garnier (who was MP for Natalie Connolly & her family) to take action on these "rough sex" claims.

And then in October they did this - please do watch:

https://twitter.com/Wecantconsentto/status/1179461570184830977

@HarrietHarman & @Mark4WyreForest tabled new clauses to the #DAbill to move "clear" case law right into the bill, & for lesser charges to be referred to the DPP @MaxHillQC.

We're asking all election candidates to bring these back-help us do that here:

wecantconsenttothis.uk/actnow

@HarrietHarman @Mark4WyreForest @MaxHillQC And what else? Well Scotland needs similar law/policy change, & NI, and we've found that in Germany, men walk free after killing their female partners. & the same issues in the US, New Zealand, Canada, Portugal, Ireland, Mexico.

And we need media guidelines on reporting, and to

@HarrietHarman @Mark4WyreForest @MaxHillQC challenge the myths in the criminal justice system that women can consent to violence which kills or injures them.

And women send us their stories of what dating is like now:

#WeCantConsentToThis

https://twitter.com/Wecantconsentto/status/1197074221450584064

@HarrietHarman @Mark4WyreForest @MaxHillQC So please do prod your election candidates to bring back the #DABill, and Harriet and Mark's clauses to begin to end 'rough sex' claims.

And if you haven't yet, please read this piece on the extraordinary normalising of violence against women in sex: theguardian.com/society/2019/j…