A SCOTTISH Green MSP has issued an apology after criticism of comments they made regarding rape, but has insisted that their words were "shared out of context".
Q Manivannan said that the language they used was “abstract” and “for that I take full responsibility and I am sorry”.
Manivannan added that they would “never seek to diminish or dismiss any survivor's experience” but that there had been a "complete mischaracterisation" of their words.
In a podcast, a year before their election as a regional MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Manivannan said rape was “is a spectrum”.
In a 23-second clip that went viral over the weekend, part of a longer interview with Dr Sindhu Rajasekaran from The Subjective Space, the MSP and sociologist said: "There definitely is a demonisation of rape, in the sense that it is a spectrum".
The clip was shared by an account which called for Manivannan, who is Indian, to be "deported back to India".
The Scottish Rape Crisis Alliance (SRCA) also condemned Manivannan over the comments.
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.
Opposition politicians, including Reform UK MSP Senga Beresford, also attacked Manivannan.
The Scottish Tories called for the Scottish Green Party to suspend the whip from them.
However, the Green MSP has said that they are horrified their comments were "selectively edited in order to mislead people and misrepresent me".
"But I also accept that my language was abstract in the first place and for that I take full responsibility and am sorry," Manivannan added in a statement released on Monday afternoon.
“During the interview, I categorically stated that rape in every context is equally serious and harmful.
"This section of the interview was maliciously left out of clips — with the rest being misrepresented and widely shared out of context, despite my repeated clarifications. I also made the point that rapists do not fit a single stereotype and that many men are relatives or known to their victims.
“I recognise that the words in the clip shared, without the full context of the conversation, have caused considerable upset. For that I apologise. I will always stand with and for victims and survivors."
Manivannan added that they know that rape and sexual violence can leave "profound pain, fear, hurt and trauma".
“I know from my experience of surviving sexual violence and speaking about recovery how deeply those experiences can affect people," they added.
"And this complete mischaracterisation of my words has now returned me to my trauma.
“I would never seek to diminish or dismiss any survivor’s experience, or to make anyone feel that their pain was not heard or understood.
“I am genuinely sorry to everyone who has been distressed, hurt or triggered by the clips, and by the discussion and coverage that has followed. Words matter, particularly when speaking about something as deeply personal and painful as sexual violence, and I regret this hurt caused.
“I would welcome the opportunity to meet with survivor and advocacy groups to listen to their perspectives and have an honest, constructive conversation about how we can work together to make Scotland safer and more compassionate for everyone.”
In response, the podcast host said that sexual assault is a "range of things that is also rape".
“It is, 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," they said on the podcast.
“There's also different modes of, well, not just consent, but also context and conditions under which rape is, well, rape.
“The idea that this 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 [podcast host] and me.
“I think that scary thought is the one that is the hardest to contend with.”
