Rape Crisis (England and Wales) is proud to call itself a feminist organisation. Rape Crisis Centres offer services by women for women and girls because, throughout our 40 years’ experience of frontline work, this is what women and girls have told us they want.

The majority of generic and statutory services and spaces are gender-neutral so it’s important to us that we protect and maintain our safe women-only services and spaces for those who want and need them. Research conducted by the Women’s Resource Centre (WRC) found that women who had used women-only services greatly valued this support and an independent poll of 1,000 women across the UK found that 97% of those interviewed thought that a female rape victim should have the choice of accessing a women-only support service.

While we focus on the needs of women and girls, we fully acknowledge that boys and men also experience rape and sexual violence and that the impacts on their lives can be similarly devastating and long-lasting. There are other fine organisations that specialise in supporting male survivors and if a man or boy contacts a Rape Crisis Centre he will be signposted towards such services.