Police forces are recording suspected and convicted rapists as female if they no longer wish to identify with their male birth sex.Six forces, including South Yorkshire and Thames Valley, disclosed under freedom of information laws that if someone is arrested for or convicted of rape, the official record will state the gender they chose to identify themselves as.
A further five forces — Durham, Kent, Norfolk and Suffolk as well as British Transport Police — did not answer the question directly but each said they recorded gender in line with the person’s wishes. Nicola Williams, director of Fair Play for Women, which submitted the requests, said: “You can’t get much more of a male crime than rape. It would be highly offensive to a woman who was raped to have it written down that her attacker was a female when clearly that was a male with a penis.”
The legal definition of rape involves penetration with a penis without consent. She added: “Sexual crimes are overwhelmingly committed by males.” In a statement, South Yorkshire police said: “We will accept the details that an individual provides us and treat them according[ly].”
Asked in the request how it recorded the gender of a male-born person who self-identifies as female and is arrested or convicted for rape, Thames Valley police said: “In this scenario, a male-born person self-identifying as female should be recorded as female on our source system.”
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