If you were raped would you report it?

When I say 'a proportion of the 'false' rape allegations', I am referring to those which have been classified as false, but which may well, as I suggested above, not be false, but the victim has retracted her statement for other reasons.

And you should consider the fact that a proportion (who knows how large a proportion) of the 'false' rape allegations are going to be where the woman has retracted the accusation because she's been threatened or because she is getting little or no support from her friends or family, or because people do not believe her - AND ALL THAT MEANS IS THAT SHE WITHDREW THE ALLEGATION - IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT THE ALLEGATION WAS FALSE!

Carpetmistress - why does wanting rapists charged and imprisoned make anyone a radical feminist? I would think it just makes them a human being.

If anyone is 'hardened' it is people who can read some of the personal and painful accounts on this thread, and can then post what you and CupCake have posted. Have you no concern or heart whatsoever for the women on this thread who have been raped?

men do get falsley accused of rape, but i and my dh have talked about this, he would much prefer to face due diligence in a court for a false accusation than know that rapists are going free because of the fear a victim has about the legal system not being supportive.

This thread is about women who have been raped.

Go away.

As you ignored my post about the impact of false allegations for other crimes and still failed to post any credible citations for your claims (in fact the first one includes data that undermines your points!), I'll take it as read that you're just here to stomp and wave a big flag, have no interest in genuine engagement, so worth, well, worth ignoring. Yeah.

carpetmistress, do they need to be aware of it on this thread?

Ive just slowly read all of this thread and was about to post on it until I got to page 13.

AlisonCupCake should've started a new thread.

Allison has a point. Men do get falsely accused and people need to be aware of it

Nice debut CupCake keep jogging.

AlisonCupCake, wrong thread.

Alison 25% of women are raped or sexually assaulted in their lives and only between 10% - 30% bother to report it, because of attitudes like yours - they know they won't be believed.

Of the minority who bother to report, only 6% will get a guilty verdict.

Because of attitudes like your's.

Rape ruins lives. Men are more likely to be raped by another man, than be falsely accused of rape by a woman. Something like 1 in 9 women are raped. Hardly any men are raped, and yet that is more likely to happen, than being falsely accused of rape.

Which do you think is the more urgent problem? The mountain of lives ruined by rape, or the molehill of lives ruined by false allegtions of rape?

You obviously think it's the latter otherwise you wouldn't have come to this thread just in order to post false statistics - 41% my arse. So I suggest you ask yourself the question of why you think false allegations of rape are more important than rape itself - the usual reason is either that people have no idea of the real figures involved and if they do, they either deny it, or they don't think rape actually matters that much, because deep down inside, they don't really think women matter that much. Which is it with you?

Alison, I think you'll find that the rate of false accusations of crimes like theft, arson and fraud are much, much higher. Being falsely accused of those crimes can also wreck lives and careers. Try being a qualified accountant with a false accusation of fraud against you or being a fire fighter with a false allegation of arson against you. Exactly this happened to two men in the town I grew up in. Their lives and the lives of their families were ruined. They ended up moving out of the area.

But, I don't see many folks suggesting that we should regard claims of theft, fraud or arson with a pinch of salt, because a false accusation could ruin someone's life.

What's the deal with the 41%? Never heard that figure. I'm sure someone with up to date evidence their fingertips will set the record straight, but from what I remember, that small proportion (less than 1 in 10) of false allegations were people who had recognised mental health issues and in their disordered state, actually believed they'd been raped or made a statement against the wrong person (i.e. were raped, but picked the wrong guy out of a line up.)

What would the point be of suing such women for slander, other than trying to dissuade all women from reporting when they have been raped (for fear they'll end up in prison themselves?)

False rape society? What kind of bilge is that? Rape is rape because there is a legal definition of rape. Rape is rape whether there is a prosecution or not. False rape sounds like a load of cack. It reminds me of "False Memory Syndrome," which was all the rage a few years back - a way of trying to discredit and silence adult survivors of child abuse. It was cack as well.

You read this thread and decided to post that shite?
Have you had a humanity bypass?

FALSE RAPE ALLEGATIONS WRECK LIVES

Many allegations of rape are fabricated.

According to Home Office research, between 3% and 9% of all reports of rape are found to be false.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7265307.stm

Some research puts the figure as high as 41% but what is clear is that it is an extremely difficult to say how many rape allegations are false.

The police do prosecute where a false allegation has been made but the sentences are very low and nearly always below 2 years in prison for a person that has made a false allegation.

It may also be possible to sue in the courts and receive damages for slander if someone makes up a false rape allegation.

The effects of being falsely accused are devastating.
Some men have committed suicide as a result of a false allegation and all men accused ha suffer for the rest of their lives. It affects the whole family.

ANONYMITY FOR THE ACCUSED IN RAPE ALLEGATIONS

Anonymity for those accused of rape would redress the imbalance that has arisen since it was abolished in 1976.

There are resources and charities available for those falsely accused of rape.

?The false rape society? is one such resource.

Saw this story metropolitan police pc sacked for 999 failures , and wasn't sure where to post it. On the one hand it's good he has been sacked, but still awful for the people who were let down when they needed help.

Yeah I do believe that it is old, but it was linked on another thread and posted before the realisation that it would be back on the forum, sorry. Still fairly new to mn.

My rapist gives me a cheery smile and "hello" when I see him in the street. A massive part of me thinks I must have got it wrong when I'm sober. When I've had far too much to drink I let myself remember exactly what happened and often end up in tears and full of hate.
I would never report a rape unless it was in full view of a CCTV camera. Even then I think I would be massively wary - I really don;t fancy my sexual history being brought up in court as proof that I "wanted it."
As others have said, I would be a thousand more times more inclined to have a word with "protective friends" and let justice take its course.

A terrifying case in the US recently was a woman who reported being raped by a police officer, it went to trial, medical examination showed injury to her cervix, this was explained/dismissed in court by the defence's argument of 'she must have done it herself, while showering.'

Sorry can't remember what city it was in but no doubt googleable, the officer was aquitted and there was massive outcry. I'm aghast that in a respected court, with massively qualified experts and judges to guide the jury, people can still seriously believe women habitually scrub their cervixes when we shower, that it's even physcially possible. Raped women who read about these cases...jesus, it's no wonder they feel despair.

A story I know personally: a close friend was sexually assaulted, she fought him off (got punched in the face for it, but got away). She reported it. I mentioned the attackers name to my ex; he knew him and knew women that refused to be in the same room as him. I told friend, she started asking about him through friends of friends, several stories came back about his previous attacks on other women. It also turned out he was a sex tourist who used to come back from Thailand with photos/stories with which to entertain any male who would listen - strong indications of underage sex.

My friend collected these stories and went to the police. They were very good, there was nothing they could do without reports being made by the women concerned, however they put everything on record. It can flag an offender up if his name ever comes up again, even in an 'unofficial' sense: the accused may not be a convicted sex attacker but the police will know he has form.

My friend went to court and one of the results she was most pleased about was that his overseas travel was restricted.

'I Never Called It Rape' by Robin Wishaw is a book particularly about acquaintance rape, bit dated (70s/80s I think) and it's personal testimony so is one huge trigger, but if anybody needs to know that this happens, that it's not just you and it most certainly is rape...it's a book about that.

wow after reading this i'm not sure i would

but if anyone put one finger on my dd i would make sure he regreted the day he was born...

Me, too.

Even if it is an old thread, it's worth looking at again.

My answer? Probably not.

GossipWitch - I am so sorry that this happened to you.

No I would tell a few very protective friends what happened, I wouldn't ask what happen to said man after.

When I was 10 I had to go to court as I was sexually abused, the questions that were asked by the defending lawyer at 10 made me doubt myself that it had happened, couldn't imagine what they would do to me as an adult.

Also with that as my past they would definitely say something along the lines of well I bet you got lots of attention after that case, maybe your saying this allegation for the same reason, I was believed once, I don't think I'd be believed twice.