Scotland's top police officer has told Sky News rapists will be banned from having the chance to self-identify as women amid confusion over gender policy.
Chief Constable Jo Farrell has insisted those accused of serious sex offences who declare as a transgender woman will be recorded as a man.
"You can only commit that crime as a man", she said.
In Scotland, rape is defined in law as penetration by a penis without consent.
Police Scotland is the UK's largest force outside of London.
The apparent shift in position comes after officers north of the border previously said suspects were treated "as they present" and no evidence of gender identity was required unless it was "pertinent" to the crime.
In response to a Freedom of Information response in 2021, the force went further and stated that a rapist who "self-identifies as a woman would be expected to be recorded as a female on relevant police systems".
The row follows recent high-profile cases, including that of Adam Graham, who began identifying as Isla Bryson while waiting to stand trial after being accused of two rapes.
Bryson was convicted of rape in February 2023 and jailed for eight years.
Scottish Prison Service (SPS) guidance at the time saw Bryson initially housed in segregation at Cornton Vale women's prison near Stirling while awaiting sentencing.
Bryson was quickly moved into the male estate following a public outcry, with an urgent case review later concluding that women were not at risk from harm as a consequence of the management of the prisoner.
A recent refresh of the rules by Scottish detectives says if an officer is "satisfied" a first-time offender presents as a female then they will be recorded as such on the system.
Amid concerns that allowing men to self-identify as women could skew crime figures and in turn lead to bad policymaking, CC Farrell stated: "They're not skewed. We're very, very aware and we're very, very alive to those issues.
"And that crime recording will focus on what's the relevance of your sex to committing that crime. And if there's relevance between that crime and your sex, then you will be recorded on the crime system as a man. And the public can be absolutely confident of that."
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Tap hereMurray Blackburn Mackenzie (MBM), an independent policy analysis collective, has consistently raised concerns and welcomes this "shift".
Dr Lucy Hunter Blackburn said: "This is a major U-turn by Police Scotland. We welcome that the chief constable has at last recognised that allowing sex offenders to self-identify their sex is indefensible.
"This is, however, a chaotic approach to announcing a major policy change. If the chief constable does not recognise what a major change this is from their position over almost five years, she has been very poorly advised.
"We have always maintained that only a small number of rapes being misclassified as having been committed by women would skew female offending patterns and is offensive to victims.
"We now need urgent reassurance that this major change has been written clearly into operational policies and communicated right across the service, and clarification about what sort of offenders Police Scotland still believes do not need their sex to be accurately recorded, and why."
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The scrutiny body overseeing Police Scotland is set to seek "clarification" from CC Farrell at a meeting on Thursday morning.
The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) wants clarity over the controversy to ensure the system "is both reasonable and lawful".
Ahead of the summit, CC Farrell has written to a Scottish parliament committee in an attempt to set the record straight.
In the letter, seen by Sky News, she said: "The committee should be absolutely assured that a man who commits rape or serious sexual assaults will be recorded as a male.
She added: "There is no instance or record on police systems of a male having been arrested and charged with rape whose gender has been recorded as female. This has not happened."
Calum Steele, former general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), said: "This is an astonishing use of words by the chief constable.
"This is welcome by everybody, but of course is a complete contradiction to the position that the service has articulated in the past when it was first asked this question a number of years ago.
"It is quite something for a police service to not get the significance of this issue for particularly victims of sexual abuse but also many campaign groups and to get this messaging so fundamentally wrong."
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