Some rape victims have a "moral responsibility" for their fate, a leading barrister has suggested.

Barbara Hewson, a human rights and civil liberties lawyer, made the comments as she attacked the "ideology of sexual victimisation" which she said has come to dominate discussion of rape.

She also expressed doubts over the "long term damaging effects" of rape and criticised the view that the offence was "morally absolutely unambiguous" with the victim "utterly innocent" and the "victimiser ... utterly guilty".

Miss Hewson made her outspoken comments in a debate on the subject at the LSE earlier this week, saying: "We need to make a distinction between legal responsibility and moral responsibility.

"The law does not attribute any responsibility now to the victim of rape whereas traditionally we know the judge would say when they came to sentence 'well she was contributorally (sic) negligent' or something like that."

Miss Hewson, a barrister at Hardwicke Chambers, added: "It seems to me, simply factually, we all know if you're drunk you are more likely to have accidents. So if you fall off a bar stool and hit you head and have a serous brain injury because you're drunk people are gong to say well you chose to be drunk.

"So it does seem to me something a little sanitised about the idea that (when discussing rape) we cannot even have a discussion about the moral responsibility whatever people may want to say about the legal responsibility."

Miss Hewson, 52, who lives in Islington, north London, dismissed what she saw as four "components" of the dominant "ideology of sexual victimisation" surrounding rape.

"The first is the idea that rape and sexual abuse is very widespread but largely unrecognised even by victims themselves who need to be taught to realise what's really happened.

"Secondly, that it has long term damaging effects. Thirdly that its morally absolutely unambiguous, the victim is utterly innocent and the victimiser is utterly guilty and this is infinitesimal. And finally that claims of victimisation must always be respected, anything less is victim-blaming."

She said some rape victims spent too much time blaming failings in their personal and professional lives on their ordeals, adding: "It becomes the cause of everything that goes wrong in life."

Her intervention has been strongly condemned by rape charities. Fiona Elvines, from Rape Crisis, said: "Barbara Hewson shows how out of touch she is with the realities of sexual violence. As a society, we have moved on from the rape myths she continues to propagate."

Her comments come at a time of intense debate over the prosecution of sex offence cases and the treatment of victims in court.

In February this year, Frances Andrade, 48, killed herself shortly after giving evidence against a couple accused of sexually abusing her as a youngster.

Her husband said she had been "incensed" by the questioning of her by the prosecution.

In August, Robert Colover, a prosecution barrister, faced criticism after he described a 13-year-old victim as "predatory".

And it is not the first time that Miss Hewson has courted controversy on the issue.

The University of Cambridge graduate attacked the decision to double the sentence for Stuart Hall, the broadcaster, following his conviction, after he admitted 14 counts of indecent against girls aged from nine to 17 between 1967 and 1985

Mr Hall's original sentence of 15 months was doubled to 30 months after public outrage over the perceived leniency of the initial decision.

Miss Hewson has also previously called for the age of consent to be lowered to 13 and criticised the "witch-hunt" of ageing celebrities accused of sexual abuse.