The shocking reports about Russell Brand have left my jaw on the floor — because I can’t believe the way in which we are treating his accusers. Brand denies the allegations made against him and insists all his relationships have been consensual, but the women who have bravely stepped forward have had their integrity questioned. I know all too well why this shouldn’t happen. Close to 200,000 women wrote to the Home Office during our consultation on the violence against women and girls strategy. For most it was the first time they had told anyone what had happened to them.
I knew that around this country and the world, women and girls are silently carrying experience of sexual violence. But I had no idea until I took up my role at the Home Office how deep the crisis went. Nor did I realise how the subsequent portrayal of people brave enough to go to the media enables this deafening silence. During the aftermath of Sarah Everard’s murder, I remember telling a journalist about a personal experience I had because I felt like I needed to share my story. Countless women were brave enough to share theirs with me and had done so in the hope of changing how we deal with violence against women and girls. I felt I should do the same.
