Should people go to prison for filing false rape cases?

[jrthebassguy]

My best friend was accused of rape when we were seniors in high school. A police investigation was launched and word spread like wildfire throughout the high school that my buddy was a no-good, dirty rapist.

It was entirely fabricated. Him and his girlfriend (of over a year) had consensual sex, but when her strict parents found a used condom she cried rape to get herself out of trouble.

What ultimately saved him? This was 2004, when texting was really taking off as a big thing. She texted the entire story to her friend, including making her accusation and admitted to lying to save her butt. The second this was discovered, the investigation was dropped.

For her trouble, nothing happened to her. I think she (her parents, really) should've been heavily fined at the least for my friend's trouble.

My friend's name was totally, utterly dragged through the mud, figuratively speaking. Everyone he had ever known assumed he was a terrible person, and even after his name was cleared he still had to tell the entire story to those not in the know. Good thing he was a minor, as the local paper couldn't print his name. Had he been an adult, it would probably show up in google searches even today.

 

[DeathFromBelow]

And if rape itself were such an issue there would be anecdotal tales abounding.

But there aren't. I think we need to rethink making such a big deal out of this.

If you really believe this, you are one seriously screwed up individual.

 

[bassinplace]

If you really believe this, you are one seriously screwed up individual.

Yep, the level of ignorance is stunning. I have to think it's nothing more than a cry for attention, which seems to be having it's intended effect.

 

[DerHoggz]

Yep, the level of ignorance is stunning. I have to think it's nothing more than a cry for attention, which seems to be having it's intended effect.

It could be a justification.

 

[bassinplace]

It could be a justification.

I can't presume that much.

 

[BawanaRik]

My best friend was accused of rape when we were seniors in high school. A police investigation was launched and word spread like wildfire throughout the high school that my buddy was a no-good, dirty rapist.

It was entirely fabricated. Him and his girlfriend (of over a year) had consensual sex, but when her strict parents found a used condom she cried rape to get herself out of trouble.

What ultimately saved him? This was 2004, when texting was really taking off as a big thing. She texted the entire story to her friend, including making her accusation and admitted to lying to save her butt. The second this was discovered, the investigation was dropped.

For her trouble, nothing happened to her. I think she (her parents, really) should've been heavily fined at the least for my friend's trouble.

My friend's name was totally, utterly dragged through the mud, figuratively speaking. Everyone he had ever known assumed he was a terrible person, and even after his name was cleared he still had to tell the entire story to those not in the know. Good thing he was a minor, as the local paper couldn't print his name. Had he been an adult, it would probably show up in google searches even today.

And she's free to it again and again and again.

 

[BawanaRik]

All this talking has made me want to re-read To Kill a Mockingbird.

That classic story about how a town can be tron asunder by the lies of a

 

[tylerwylie]

i think that males tend to have a more cavalier view on rape because they do not fear being raped. if more males were raped i think make societal views on the crime of rape in general would be different.

If you account for the prison and military populations some statistics regarding rape will show men as the majority of rape victims.

 

[DerHoggz]

If you account for the prison and military populations some statistics regarding rape will show men as the majority of rape victims.

Show us.

 

[tylerwylie]

Looks like we reached full house in Rape Discussion Bingo already.

Lets introduce a new law. Like Poe's Law, or Godwin's Law... lets call it Kohntarkosz's law.

The longer that people discuss rape on the internet, the more likely that a few things will happen. Lets ignore the gross trivialisation of rape occurring here for a minute... these 'certainties' are;

1) Some 'cutting through the bull****' type dudebro will post "Bbbut, guys can get raped too! Nobody talks about that! I have no stats to back up my claim, but I reckon as many guys as gals get raped".

AND

2) Some 'cutting through the bull****' type dudebro will post "False rape allegations happen as frequently as real rape allegations and can ruin a man's life!!! ZOMG think of the men people!!!!".

Every time. The same two arguments, to try and 1) pretend there is an epidemic of false rape claims using a few well noted (and severely dealt with) historic cases and 2) to try and make men appear equally victimised and predated by wiley rapists and thus attempt to invalidate any arguments that point at men being far more likely to rape.

Perhaps it is because this forum is 99% male populated. I see the same weak, half-assed arguments appearing all over the internet from emotionally immature 'proud to be contrarian' dudebros, usually aged between 18 and 35 but sometimes incorporating bitter divorcee fathers into their bile. As soon as I saw the thread title here I knew it would be a crock of **** from the word go. I could also predict the poster names most likely to be spewing this garbage; the same intelectually stunted individuals that appear in every thread in the Off Topic forum making the same few badly worded arguments regardless of the subject matter.

After reading this large heap of logical-fallacy-stew devoid of any arguments, I do have a request:

Lets ignore the gross trivialisation of rape occurring here for a minute...

Can you point out where this is happening in this thread? Give me an example or a quote.

 

[hbarcat]

Just . . . .







. . . . wow.

:scowl:




Somebody, please make this stop.

 

[tylerwylie]

Show us.

Given how hard it is to calculate rape statistics, especially for men who underreport crime in general, and report rape even less, it's hard to find exact numbers for both men and women.

Another thing to note is that numbers can be used to manipulate the opinions of many. We must be wary of liberal definitions of crimes that can be used to drive people to have emotional reactions and engage in tactics to avoid any sort of rational or philosophical discussion of the issues.

 

[tylerwylie]

Ironic that in a thread about false accusations, the only way you can support your own ridiculous positions is to accuse others of making arguments they never made.

A lot of that going on by a lot of people in this thread. It's what happens when people can't emotionally detach themselves from a position and resort to name calling and strawmen instead of making arguments from reason and evidence.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

If you look at the stats of reported rapes, about 10% are male victims. The vast majority of rapists are male, against both male and female victims.

 

[tylerwylie]

If you look at the stats of reported rapes, about 10% are male victims. The vast majority of rapists are male, against both male and female victims.

True, and the vast majority of rapists come from single female headed households. Should we look into prevention as well as punishment?

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I remember discussing rape when I was in Cub Scouts. It was a weird section of the Scout book, but it discussed adult figures (though not necessarily adults) getting too close to you and initiating certain kinds of sexual contact. Again, it weird as heck for a 10-11 year old to be reading, but it was there. I'm curious what, if anything, Girl Scouts or other female based organizations are teaching young ladies in regards to rape.

 

[LiquidMidnight]

I remember discussing rape when I was in Cub Scouts. It was a weird section of the Scout book, but it discussed adult figures (though not necessarily adults) getting too close to you and initiating certain kinds of sexual contact. Again, it weird as heck for a 10-11 year old to be reading, but it was there. I'm curious what, if anything, Girl Scouts or other female based organizations are teaching young ladies in regards to rape.

Likewise, I remember being young and hearing about how I shouldn't accept rides from strangers and other similar advice. I was completely naïve about molestation, and I honestly thought that there were all these people who wanted to kidnap children because they wanted a kid that badly.

 

[LiquidMidnight]

Can you point out where this is happening in this thread? Give me an example or a quote.

Exhibit A:

And if rape itself were such an issue there would be anecdotal tales abounding.

But there aren't. I think we need to rethink making such a big deal out of this.

That post was made after Kohn's, but I think it's relevant to your request.

 

[hbarcat]

Let me just throw this on the pile.


Penn & Teller on worrying about child abduction and rape
Over Reacting:

 

[Dale D Dilly]

Let me just throw this on the pile.


Penn & Teller on worrying about child abduction and rape
Over Reacting:

I'm disposed to agree. I think the same idea applies beyond our children.

A decade ago, I was an undergrad who emphatically supported (and still would if I went back to school) the women's studies program at my university and several of the accompanying campus organizations. I thought women's sexual health issues were men's sexual health issues, women's political issues were men's political issues, and any culture of violence and fear aimed at women couldn't help but have a second barrel aimed at men. I did butt heads with others in these organizations over quite a few of the presentations on sexual violence and campus safety because the information relayed in some (not all) of these presentations did not line up with the data available.

As someone interested in fostering a strong community on that campus, I had a real problem with depictions of our campus as an extremely dangerous place when the data on violence, particularly sexual violence on campus didn't support the assertion. I also argued that sensationalizing the topic lead to misconceptions--I listened to many young women worried about getting raped on their way to the parking lot who wouldn't give a second thought to getting black-out drunk at a party full of semi-acquaintances. For many, rape was a boogey-man rather than practical problem that could be at least partially avoided through rational strategies.

That's not an indictment of all (or even most) such organization and the prevention/awareness work they do. It's not even a damning one against the groups I encountered--they did plenty of good work along with these occasional bad jobs. It's an anecdote illustrating that sex and sexual violence is easily sensationalized and that the spectacle created from such is not "erring on the side of caution," but a potentially destructive way of spreading misinformation.