Sandy Brindley Must Go
The chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland must be held accountable for the catastrophic failure to protect and support sexual assault survivors
As a feminist who has campaigned for decades on behalf of victims of male violence, I am appalled and furious at the ongoing scandal of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC). In particular, I am disgusted that Sandy Brindley, Chief Executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, has chosen to use rape victims to speak on her behalf, despite the fact that she passionately defending the recruitment of a Mridul Wadhwa, a trans-identified man, as CEO of a women-only rape crisis service.
Brindley, a self-professed feminist, who holds a senior position in relation to Wadhwa, and whose role included oversight of the rape crisis centre in question – took no action against him when he stated (on a podcast) that rape victims who do not accept that trans women are women would be called out on their bigotry, and have to “reframe their trauma”.
Mridul Wadhwa
Wadhwa managed to secure a job advertised as open to women only, without disclosing that he is male. And Brindley left a man who caused trauma to rape victims in charge of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC).
At that time, Sandy Brindley defended Wadhwa against criticism – calling him a ‘sister’, a ‘mother’, and a ‘warrior for women’s rights’. She defended Wadhwa again when he was under scrutiny at the employment tribunal brought by Roz Adams – a staff member who had made careful enquiries about disclosing to rape survivors the biological sex of those they would be in contact with at the rape crisis centre. The review into the service, called after the damning judgement in the tribunal, found that “putting women in the position of having to discuss whether the service they receive will be provided by someone who was born and continues to identify as female has caused damage.”
Brindley, who oversaw ERCC as a previously safe, women-only space for female victims (including girls as young as 12), has been aware of concerns about ERCC for a number of years. The service was also opened up to men as service users – one of whom is former SNP equalities officer Cameron Downing, now serving time in prison for horrific crimes against women.
Cameron Downing with Nicola Sturgeon
When an employment tribunal found that Roz Adams had been harassed and discriminated against by the “invisible hand” of Wadhwa, it would have been reasonable to expect that he would be sacked, and that Brindley would resign. Neither happened.
Concerns about Wadhwa raised with Brindley since his appointment in 2021 have been dismissed – with Brindley accusing critics of “misinformation” and “harassment”. She even threatened to report anyone referring to Wadhwa as a man, despite the fact that he does not have a gender recognition certificate and is both biologically and legally male.
When, in 2021 a group of rape survivors asked to meet with Brindley "to express their concerns about gender self-ID legislation” they had no idea that Brindley’s trans activist partner, Sharon Cowan, would be there. Since no-one introduced her, the survivors initially assumed she too was a service user.
During that meeting, Cowan, Professor of Feminist and Queer Legal Studies at Edinburgh University, suddenly began berating the women for demanding medical care from women, not men.
Sharon Cowan
On Thursday last week, Brindley was interviewed on the BBC and claimed that she had only become aware of the problems at ERCC in October 2023. I can only conclude that she had failed to listen to the survivors at a meeting organised by Joan McAlpine, MSP, in 2019.
Yet last week, amidst calls for her resignation, Brindley urged the Scottish Daily Mail to talk to users of the service – who would, she said, support her. The paper then received a set of glowing testimonials from service users.
It seems that it’s okay to ignore one group of survivors, and use another group as a smokescreen. Brindley has stooped to using rape survivors as human shields.
A version of this article first appeared in the Sunday Mail, 22 September 2024
Wadhwa and other blokes who present themselves as ladies have never had and will never have the essential experience that all real women go through, either in their teens and often throughout their lives. The constant fear of male aggression. An experience that must surely be essential to anyone’s ability to work with female rape victims. My daughter has spent her life crossing the road, not entering lifts and avoiding places and situations that I would take for granted. And before anyone says that men frequently take steps to avoid personal danger, it’s not the same as fear of sexual violence, which brings a whole range of stuff into play, including guilt and shame, however undeserved. Wadhwa’s original appointment was an act of extraordinary insensitivity and stupidity. Those that allowed and sanctioned it were either unhinged or malevolent. Sadly, the latter seems more likely.
Not only does she need to fall but that Board of Trustees with her. This is one of the most appalling things I have read.
What part didn’t they understand that it was a huge risk factor to allow men who self ID as women to work with female rape survivors? The damage was foreseeable.