A few months ago, Laci Green, a popular sex ed extraordinaire and feminist, made a video where she explains false rape claims and how they are to be dealt with. Honestly, I felt she did a pretty good job talking about the matter. The internet on the other hand doesn't agree with me. The video was blasted with dislikes, with ignorant detractors, blatant misogynists, rape apologists, and just the typical anti-feminist crowd took to the comments just to berate the poor woman for simply explaining the truth about the situation. A "meme" also started called #LaciGreenRapedMe, where we're supposed to make a mockery of a real problem of rape victims not being believed. The reactions to the video infuriated me to no end, and I felt more compelled to give my own piece to this.
So how did false rape claims get started in the first place? False rape claims had arisen during times of segregation and slavery. Many times, black slaves were falsely accused to raping a woman out of nowhere. And as a result, they were lynched, flogged, and even shot. So false rape claims actually got their kicks by being a form a racism. However, at that time, a majority of rapes were black women, who were also slaves. So whilst these men's wives were having their purity stripped from them, they themselves were being framed for crimes they never did. Did social connotations for false rape claims ever evolve? Not a bloody chance.
Nowadays, false rape claims are blown WAY out of proportion by men's groups as another part of their war against women. Let me get this out of the way right now. I do not condone lying about rape, and plenty of feminists don't either. We feel it is insulting to the real rape victims who've been cheated by the legal system. But the biggest problem I have with this situation is that men's groups treat false rape claims like they're the worst thing ever when that's so obviously not the case. This position has attacked feminists many times as a way to make us seem evil or incredulous. Here's the thing though, feminists don't neglect to shift all focus on false rape claims because we want to take the piss out of A Voice for Men and Return of Kings. We don't shift focus to it because false rape claims are already taken very seriously to start with. A false claim is classified as perjury, and anyone who does this can be hit with a hefty fine or incarceration. Referring to my first blog post, actual rapists can sometimes walk free despite being completely responsible for the crime. As the old saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Now let's get into the meat of things. We're gonna look at some facts. The amount of false rape claims that are actually reported stand at a low 2%-8%. You are more likely to be raped than you are to be framed for it. But what the statistics don't show you are that reported rape cases that receive no evidence are deemed as false. I remember reading months ago about an Ohio sheriff eliminating rape kits because "most of the rapes we got were false". He had no real evidence other than anecdotal bollocks. Some might bring up retroactive rape claims, where a woman has sex with a guy, regrets it, and then says he raped her. What they don't realise is that when someone is raped, let's go with a woman here, the incident is very hard to prove. Evidence of such is not easy to get because the perpetrator is often someone they know and they'll often blackmail the victim into staying quiet about it. This situation is far more likely to happen than a false rape claim, so it's more humane to believe the victim.
But what about the effects of a false rape accusation, you might ask? Do I not care about some guy's life being ruined? Let's not count anything out. If you're framed for something you didn't do, you have my undivided sympathy. But wait. Most accused men have a recorded history of being aggressive towards women, physically or sexually. So these things aren't easy to combat on the spot. Sure, that doesn't necessarily mean it's okay to lie about something he did, but my point still stands. And really, asking for proof can pretty much apply to any crime. And if we're gonna say that everything must be a hoax because evidence isn't brought to the forefront almost immediately then that defeats the purpose of rape investigations in the first place. Here's a tip: if the accused is coming off more casual than the accuser, then there's a pretty big chance the rape isn't false.
So what can be done about it? Firstly, do not treat this as though it's worse than actually getting raped. It really isn't, and it makes you look like an arsehole. What we should do is pay close attention and look at both sides. When enough has been shown to draw a decent conclusion, then we can start talking about whether or not the situation was dealt with fairly.
Hm, I'm really having trouble ending this on a good note. Oh well, bye.
I must say, this is SPOT ON!
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