There are certain rules that all girls are taught to abide by as they grow up. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t wear revealing clothes. Don’t wear too much make-up, don’t flirt, don’t lead men on.

Don’t let your drink out of your sight in public places. On that note, don’t drink too much – if at all. Definitely don’t walk home on your own at night.

Essentially, the message is this: don’t put yourself in a vulnerable position, because anything that happens as a result will be your fault. And herein lies one of the biggest problems in our patriarchal society - the onus for avoiding rape is heaped solely on the shoulders of victims, rather than the perpetrators themselves. It’s no surprise we live in a culture ingrained with victim blaming, in which one third of people believe women who flirt are partially responsible for being raped.

And when it comes to rape, the statistics are horrifying. Around 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped in England and Wales every year, and 90% of these victims know the perpetrator before the offence. Despite these numbers, just 5.7% of rape cases that are reported to the police result in a conviction for the perpetrator – a far lower rate than for many other crimes committed.

Now, a new documentary is hoping to hand some of this misplaced power back to rape victims – by giving them a voice. Raped sees 10 victims, including nine women and one man, discuss their ordeals.

Here, stylist.co.uk talks to three of these women to further understand just how damaging victim blaming can be – and why we urgently need to work to fight back against it.

Three rape victims on why we need to stop victim blaming