Scottish Greens refuse to withdraw whip after MSP sparks storm after claiming rape is 'a spectrum' and rapists should not be 'demonised'

Q Manivannan, a non-binary MSP elected for the first time in the May Holyrood elections, also said there was a "demonisation of rape."

His comments sparked fury with the MSP accused of displaying an “utter ignorance of the trauma and violation of rape."

Opposition politicians have demanded an apology and that the Scottish Greens remove the party whip.

Rape Crisis Scoland said "rape is not demonised enought" and the UN's special rappoteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem has said rape should "never be spoken of in those terms."

However a spokesman for the party has told LBC the whip will not be withdrawn and claimed Q's comments were "misrepresented" and the party "unequivocally condemns rape, harassment and sexual violence."

The MSP made the controversial comments in an interview with The Subjective Space podcast in an episode entitled On Care, Grief & Words uploaded last year.

During a discussion about rehabilitiating offenders, the Edinburgh & Lothians East MSP said people often thought of a rapist as a “monster” or a “big burly man” but that “any individual is capable of rape" before saying there “definitely is a demonisation of rape.”

Manivannan added: “It is a spectrum, none of which is any less, or more, worse, but it is a spectrum of things that constitute that one homogenised word, rape. And I think it’s also, there’s also different modes of, well, not just consent, but also ideas, but also contexts and conditions under which rape is, well, rape.”

In Scots law, rape occurs when "a person intentionally or recklessly penetrates another person's vagina, anus, or mouth with their penis, without the victim's consent, and without a reasonable belief that the victim is consenting."

Nicola Love of Rape Crisis Scotland said: “If anything rape is not demonised enough.

“These comments are deeply irresponsible and reinforce harmful rape myths that organisations like ours have fought hard against for decades.

“The trauma and seriousness of rape should never be minimised.”

Susan Smith, of the campaign group For Women Scotland, said: “We were very disturbed to hear the comments from Manivannan, which betrayed such utter ignorance of the trauma and violation of rape.

“This will be a test of the determination of the Greens to ‘queer’ all boundaries. Having decided that gender is fluid and that ‘women’ can have penises, will they now defend the notion that consent and sexual violence are fluid, mutable concepts and that women have to accept rapists’ self-assessment that they are great lads, and not to be demonised?”

Tracy Gilbert, the Scottish Labour MP for Edinburgh North & Leith, said: “I am alarmed by the views expressed by a Scottish Greens MSP where they say that rape is a ‘spectrum’.

"I am absolutely clear that there is no spectrum of rape and know that there is certainly no spectrum of suffering from the survivors of rape.”

And Scottish Conservatives’ deputy leader, Rachael Hamilton, said she was "appalled to hear this person minimise the ordeal of millions of women who have suffered at the hands of predatory men.

"In any other workplace, expressing views like this would probably end up in mandatory training. But Scottish Greens MSPs seem to relish diminishing women and girls. These views are not fit for the 21st Century and the Scottish Greens should clarify they do not support a ‘spectrum of rape’ theory.”

And Reform UK called on the Scottish Greens to remove the whip from Manivannan over the “abhorrent” comments.

Senga Beresford, an MSP for South Scotland, said: “How dare anyone trivialise the trauma of rape by describing sexual crime as a ‘spectrum’?

“Q Manivannan’s words send the completely wrong message to men in this country. Hearing such insensitive comments will be unbelievably painful for survivors of sexual assault and rape.”

However Q Manivannan said the remarks were intended to highlight how society has too narrow a definition of what counts as rape and of the people who are likely to commit it.

On the podcast Manivannan said: “I think this idea that the rapist is the ‘big burly man’ is not necessarily unfounded, because that’s the individual I’m most scared of on a day-to-day basis, but it’s also an entity that is misconstrued simply because I think any individual is capable of it: including yourself [Manivannan’s female podcast host] and me. I think that scary thought is the one that is the hardest to contend with.”

Manivannan issued a later statement, saying: “This clip has been clearly misrepresented and taken out of context from a much longer interview.

"As a survivor of sexual violence, who has spoken openly about my recovery, I am clear that we need to focus on reducing the likelihood of perpetrators of rape reoffending.

“The point I made about demonisation was that not all rapists fit a stereotype, and that all kinds of men can and do commit it. The vast majority of sexual violence is from men who the victims know personally. Victims should be believed regardless of who the perpetrator was, and rapists should be punished in the strongest terms.

“When talking about a spectrum I was making the point that laws often take a narrow definition of what rape and sexual violence is, which often allows it to continue without consequence. Any suggestion that my statements minimise or excuse rape or sexual assault are deeply false and misleading.”

And a spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said: “The Scottish Greens unequivocally condemn rape, harassment and sexual violence.

“When sexual crimes against women and girls too often go unpunished, and where many victims feel scared to report for fear of not being believed, the language we use and the way we represent the views of others matters.

“As Q’s previous statement has made clear, the clip being circulated this weekend was deliberately taken out of context from a longer conversation in order to misrepresent them.

“In the full interview Q argued strongly that too many men get away with this crime because of the assumption that rapists all match a narrow stereotype. We will only tackle this epidemic of sexual violence if that dangerous stereotype is consigned to history.”

Manivannan, who moved to Scotland in 2021 to study for a PhD in international relations at the University of St Andrews, is originally from India, and previously sparked controversy when it was revealed the UK student visa which brought the academic to Scotland is due to expire at the end of the year.

During the campaign Manivannan claimed a disadvantaged, “lower caste” background, implying that they were among the most marginalised groups in Indian society, and claimed at times to have been “hungry because I was starved”.

However The Times newspaper later found that Manivannan was from an upper middle-class family and had attended private schools in Chennai, one of India’s wealthiest cities, and owns a £250,000 property in India.