I’ve been raped and I didn’t report it. My rapist was not a college graduate, he was an older man, of high standing and I didn’t feel I would be believed. I abhor victim blaming. However, I don’t believe the inadequacy of our response to rape when it happens negates the wrongness of false accusations of rape when they occur. Two wrongs do not make a right.
As I said up there, I don’t believe many women do falsely scream rape. All rape cases may not end up in court but that doesn’t mean the victim lied. I do believe the few women who use an accusation of rape as a weapon not only inflict a terrible crime upon their male victim, but they also and perhaps more importantly, exasperate the already punishing problems real rape victims (male or female) face. Still, I don’t think that generalisations help here. One crime (that too many men rape women) does not negate the seriousness of the other crime (that (I suspect) a very small minority of women falsely accuse men of rape).
I don’t know how we deal with false rape claims in a way that won’t make it harder than it already is to report rape. However, when it is clear a false rape claim has been made, we can’t ignore it and pretend it didn’t happen. That’s no more right than holding women responsible for rape.
We need to completely rethink the way the crime of rape is viewed and managed. From the way we educate our sons and daughters as parents, at school and at college, right through to our legal and law enforcement responses.