That’s without even considering the re-traumatisation inherent in the process of going through the legal system itself – strangers reading your private text messages and accessing your therapy notes, as well as constantly having to repeat and relive the most intimate details again and again. And for what outcome? Conviction rates in the UK are dismal. Less than 2 in 100 rapes recorded by police in 2022 resulted in a charge that same year, according to Rape Crisis. As @SpeakOutSister, a women’s advocate group, posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) earlier today: “No rape survivor should be pressured into making a police report in a system that retraumatises those who do.”
For survivors, the influx of support for Brand has been particularly painful. “Reading through comments from friends and acquaintances on social media calling the women who accused him liars made me feel ill,” one woman who did not want to be named told Glamour. “After reading the Times piece, I spent the weekend scrolling through them thinking about my rape and how I was too scared to tell anyone for years in case they thought I was making it up. Seeing how many people I actually know think like that just brought that all back again.”
According to trauma informed sex and relationship therapist Jodie Slee, research shows negative reactions to a survivor’s story may serve a silencing function, leading some to stop talking about their experiences to anyone at all, even a therapist. “Shame breeds in silence and mis-placed shame reinforces feelings of self-blame, which can be catastrophic for the healing process. Not being believed also increase survivors’ chances of low self-esteem, loss of self-worth and secondary victimization,” she tells Glamour.
This can be as, if not more, traumatising than the abuse itself, effectively preventing recovery from trauma, says psychotherapist and spokesperson for the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) Erene Hadjiioannou. “All survivors deserve respect, empathy, and unequivocal support when they speak out. This is the baseline for improving mental health after trauma.”
Survivors will not have felt much respect or support reading social users rallying to Brand today. One user on X called Brand’s accusers a ‘troop of groupies’ who are ‘trying to cash in on his changed notoriety’. Another suggested suing “and exposing” the accusers, “so we can get rid of the bullshit they spew.” And before the allegations were published by the Sunday Times and Dispatches, Brand received messages of support from Elon Musk, while Alex Jones and Andrew Tate shared theirs after Brand’s video denial (nobody I’d be thrilled to have in my corner but there you go)
So to those rushing to pledge their support to this man, who is accused of multiple instances of sexual assault, including allegedly forcing his penis down a 16-year-old girl’s throat (all of which he denies), please remember that 1 in 4 of your female friends and 1 in 18 of your male friends will be survivors of rape or sexual assault. And as numerous recent posts have reminded us on social: Russell Brand won’t see your tweets of you supporting him, but they will.
GLAMOUR has contacted a rep for Russell Brand and is awaiting comment
For information or support regarding rape and sexual abuse, contact Rape Crisis