Challenging rape myths in sexual offence trials
Rape myths are entrenched narratives that distort understandings of consent and undermine the credibility of victim-survivors in sexual offence trials. Despite decades of legislative reform, these myths continue to shape jury reasoning and impede justice.
For over a decade, Dr Emma Henderson and Dr Kirsty Duncanson have been helping to reshape national and international approaches to sexual offence law and to drive reform through planned global collaborations on jury directions.
The pair lead a program of research mapping how rape myths persist in courtroom processes, finding research shows rape myths are actively circulated throughout rape trials, but are generally not critiqued in law school curricula, leaving future practitioners ill-equipped to challenge them.
Their research is cited extensively in major policy papers and law reform reports. Most recently in 2025, their work was cited in the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Inquiry into Justice Responses to Sexual Violence (2025).
They have informed submissions to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Inquiry into Current and Proposed Sexual Consent Laws in Australia, where they were invited as expert witnesses, and their recommendations appear in Recommendation 11 of the Committee’s 2023 Final Report, which calls for a National Sexual Violence Bench Book to address rape myths.
They have also shaped reforms in Western Australia through Project 113 Sexual Offences and informed international reviews such as the Irish Houses of the Oireachtas Report on Victim’s Testimony in Cases of Rape and Sexual Assault (2021) and the UK Law Commission’s Evidence in Sexual Offence Prosecutions (2023).
Beyond law reform, the impact of this research extends to advocacy partnerships.
A joint research project with community organisation WEstjustice about family violence intervention orders culminated in a report titled When do I Get to Tell My Story – Agency and Resistance in Family Violence Intervention Order Narratives. WEstjustice used this report to advocate across the family violence sector for improved processes and outcomes for victim-survivors of family violences.
“Kirsty and Emma were instrumental in this project, by providing strong leadership and structure to the project. Without their research, analysis and report writing skills, WEstjustice would not have been able to address and advocate for better systems and outcomes for our vulnerable clients,” said WEstjustice Legal Director: Family Violence and Family Law, Cleona Feuerring.