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The comments have been widely criticised by survivors groups and political opponents who said they downplayed the seriousness and lasting trauma of rape.<\/p>\n
The SCRA, which comprises support groups in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and the Western Isles, said the impacts of rape can last a lifetime, and the crime should never be reduced to a theoretical debate. <\/p>\n
In an open letter the alliance said: “We are not demonising rape. We are naming it.”<\/p>\n
The authors strongly opposed the idea of rape existing on a “spectrum”, insisting “there is no hierarchy of rape” and that no survivor should feel compelled to ask whether their experience was serious enough.”<\/p>\n
The letter urged politicians “not to normalise” rape or sexual violence, and “not create hierarchies of harm”. <\/p>\n
While not naming Manivannan, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls, Reem Alsalem, posted on X that rape should never be spoken about in terms of it being a spectrum.<\/p>\n
Scotland’s Children’s Minister Siobhan Brown told the BBC’s Sunday Show Manivannan’s words were misjudged. <\/p>\n
Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats have also been critical, while the Scottish Conservatives called on the Scottish Greens to suspend the MSP.<\/p>\n
Meghan Gallacher, the party’s equalities spokeswoman, said: “It is deeply alarming that anyone, but especially an elected representative, would ever seek to minimise the seriousness of rape and suggest that there is a spectrum of offences.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n