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WE could lock up rapists, we could castrate them, hang and flog them but that would not stop rape.

We used to accept a man hitting his wife as “a domestic”, we put kids up chimneys, spat at gays in the street.

There was a time when a woman couldn’t vote, she was paid less than a man and was considered her husband’s property.

Those injustices, so blatant now, only changed when we did.

The new campaign reaching out to men across Scotland is designed to promote a cultural shift in attitudes toward rape.

It won’t eradicate the crime or even revolutionise thinking but it might just tweak it, start the conversation, provoke thought.

This is not saying that all men are potential rapists, it is suggesting that not all men understand the definition of rape.

This campaign is not targeting the predatory rapists but the bloke who takes advantage of a drunk girl, who sees her short skirt as an invitation and who thinks women are being playful when they say no.

The new definition of rape, now enshrined in law, will punish the crime but our priority should be to stop it happening at all.

The only real issue with this campaign is this: does it go far enough?

In Sweden, after a ban on prostitution, a massive campaign was launched in schools and in workplaces to re-educate boys and men about the sexual exploitation of women.

Not only did fewer Swedish men buy sex at home, they are also the least likely of all nationalities to buy it abroad.

It just isn’t culturally acceptable in Sweden to exploit prostitutes any more.

Enforcement will never transform a society the way education can.

More hard core pornography is available than ever before, there are hundreds of sites which create rape fantasy.

Young men are choosing to watch this vile filth whether we like it or not.

However, we still have a chance to influence their attitudes to rape.

This campaign isn’t the solution but in the fight against the worst of violations against women, it is worth a try.

The naked truth

STEPHEN GOUGH, the man who became known as the naked rambler, is getting beyond a joke and well beyond making a point.

He has just been jailed again for five months for a breach of the peace – this time for repeatedly refusing to turn away from a children’s playpark where he insisted it was his right to walk by unclothed.

He has no point to prove – Gough has spent much of the past six years in prison on similar charges for being nude in public.

He causes offence and so is jailed for his nakedness at each turn.

But by insisting his so-called freedoms trump the rights of children to play without being upset or harassed he has gone from a legal nuisance to a social menace.

He has cost the police, the legal system and the prison service a fortune.

He refuses social work support, or any assessment that might help him.

Perhaps he means no harm, but even naked it is plain to see that his ego is bigger than the rest of him.

Until clothed he should remain incarcerated.