As a feminist activist who has been campaigning all of my adult life against sexual violence, the idea of hundreds of impassioned folk marching the streets in protest about rape is my idea of heaven. But the demonstrations that have been taking place in Midlothian, Scotland, trouble rather than please me.
Robert Greens was convicted of the vicious rape of a woman in 2005 and sentenced to 10 years in prison the following year. Recently released, Greens was housed six miles from where the attack took place, mainly because no other local authority would provide accommodation. The protesters are angry that Greens is so close to the area where he committed the crime and have graffitied and surrounded his home day and night, shouting and waving placards.
A makeshift campsite and a portable toilet has been erected, and the police are investigating allegations of criminal damage on the property. In a show of classic nimbyism, the protesters are demanding that Greens be moved to another location. A number of the campaigners are refusing to pay rent or council tax to Midlothian council if Greens is not moved.
"We just can't stand by and have this monster live near to us," one demonstrator told a reporter. "There are many young girls around here who are just too scared to go out on their own."
I and countless other women remember being told I should not go out on my own by the police and others during the hunt for the so-called Yorkshire Ripper in Leeds in the late 1970s, as though there was only one nasty man with a desire to hurt women. It was during this time I was attacked by two men I knew very well in the pub where I worked. Most rapes occur in the home, or by men known to us. Unless the men are caught, convicted and fit the stereotype of a "real rapist", many women are not even believed when we report rape.
One of the problems with the hysteria around Greens is that it is based on the belief that "real rape" is committed by strangers carrying knives, and that they are born rapists and will die rapists. In viewing sex offenders as monsters, as Greens has been labelled by the protesters, is to skew the reality of what rape is – an ordinary, commonplace act often perpetuated by nice respectable men in suits who live with us, not just close by.
The large police presence that accompanied the crowd to Greens' home, where marchers chanted behind metal barriers, and the officers on permanent duty outside Greens home would better serve the public by preventing further attacks on women.
Demonstrations such as those against Greens help perpetuate the myth that the only way to keep women and children safe is to publicise the addresses of all known sex offenders and send them off to live on a desert island. But we would do better to find ways to improve the criminal justice system's response to rape so that men are deterred by the fear of actually going to prison if they commit such crimes.
The vast majority of rapes are never reported and often the victims tell no one. There have been tragedies in the past as a result of dangerous offenders being bailed or released too early, and sex offenders can of course go on to harm others, but it is the responsibility of the courts and the wider criminal justice system to ensure our safety, not vigilantes. Only 6.5% of reported rapes end in a conviction on the charge of rape itself. Given the low reporting rates, if a man commits a rape, then he has, on average, a less than 1% chance of being convicted of it. Those most likely to result in a conviction are classic stranger rapes, involving a man with a knife that creeps about in the dark.
Focusing our energies on crimes such as that committed by Greens can lead us to believe the most dangerous myth of all – that only nasty strangers pose a danger to women. Vigilantism is a poor form of justice. Those protesters marching through Midlothian would do a better service if they started asking why most rapists never spend one day in prison.