The Scottish Rape Crisis Alliance (SRCA) has condemned a Green MSP over their comments about the “demonisation of rape”.
Q Manivannan was also rebuked for saying rape exists on a “spectrum”.
In an open letter, the alliance, which represents four rape crisis centres in Scotland, said there was “no hierarchy of rape” and warned the MSP not to “minimise” sexual violence.
The Conservatives called for the Scottish Greens to suspend Manivannan while their comments have been criticised by Scotland’s children’s minister, as well as Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
The comments from Manivannan, made during The Subjective Space podcast last year, sparked fury after they re-emerged online at the weekend.
During the nearly hour-long exchange, Manivannan, a non-binary MSP who uses they/them pronouns, said there was a “demonisation of rape”.
“It is a spectrum,” they added, “none of which is any worse or less or more worse, but it is a spectrum of things that constitute that one homogenised word, rape.”
Manivannan also said there were “different modes” of consent and rape.
The MSP went on to say that the idea of a rapist being a “big, big, burly man” was “not necessarily unfounded” but said it was “misconstrued” because “any individual is capable” of rape.
The SRCA said it “fundamentally rejects the suggestion that society is demonising rape”.
The alliance said: “We do not need to exaggerate its seriousness. We do not need to turn perpetrators into mythical monsters.
“But neither should we be afraid to say plainly that rape is horrific, that it causes profound trauma and harm, and that responsibility for that harm belongs with the person who chose to violate another person.”
The letter said recognising the complexity of sexual violence “does not require us to make rape itself ambiguous”, and added that there was “no hierarchy of rape” and “no level of suffering a survivor must demonstrate before their experience becomes serious enough to matter”.
“‘Was my rape serious enough?’ should never be a question a survivor has to ask themselves,” the letter said.
It added: “We are asking the Scottish Green Party, and all political representatives, to be unequivocal. Do not minimise rape. Do not normalise sexual violence. Do not create hierarchies of harm.
“Do not ask survivors to make their experiences smaller so that political conversations can be made more comfortable.
“And do not lose sight of the person, more often than not a woman or girl, at the centre of the discussion.
“She is not a theoretical concept. She is not a statistic. She is not a political pawn.”
The Scottish Conservatives said Manivannan’s remarks were “appalling and beyond the pale”.
Meghan Gallacher said it was “deeply alarming” for an MSP to “minimise the seriousness of rape and suggest that there is a spectrum of offences”.
The MSP added: “Q Manivannan’s comments were so unacceptable that I believe Scottish Greens co-leaders Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay must now remove the whip from them.
“Any failure to do so would send a horrendous message to victims of rape that Q’s comments were in any way appropriate and run the risk of them saying something similar in the Holyrood chamber.”
The Scottish Greens have been approached for comment.
