109 women prosecuted for false rape claims in past 5 years

It is indeed - as false as comparing the problem of malicious allegations (rare) as equal to the plight of rape victims (a substantial proportion of women.)

Men are more likely to be rape victims of other men than falsely accused of rape.

Furthermore, my original point was not about which is worse. But just that it's hypocrisy for women to say men can't comment authoritatively on female oppression or other feminist issues, but they can comment on the uniquely male issue of being falsely accused of rape.

I agree that those cases are wrong. Nobody should be prosecuted for dropping a case.

I should have specified that I was referring to malicious accusations, where the only victim is the man.

In those cases, it is a false dichotomy to compare the suffering of these men to rape victims.

The police/CPS also have form for pursuing a false allegations/perverting the course of justice charge where they believe the victim was genuine, but the victim has just tried to drop the charges - often due to pressure from the accused or the accused's family.

But that doesn't mean it was a false accusation - just that the victim couldn't stand to go through the legal process of a rape conviction.

You're wrong - in many 'false accusations' scenarios a rape did take place and it was a case of mistaken identity (often not even on the say-so of the victim herself.)

So the victim was still a victim.

Deliberately malicious allegations against a named person are in fact a small proportion of the 2-3% of all reported rapes that are counted in the false allegation statistics.

I think people are underestimatimg or understating just how big a deal it is though.

Alao, in individual cases of successfully prosecuted false accusations, there was no rape, and in those particular cases the man's plight is certainly worse than the woman's.

I don't think anyone's said it's no big deal - just that it is not comparable to being an actual victim of this violent crime.

I'm not saying they're equal.

Being raped is probably the most awful thing I can imagine and I feel sorry for people who have been.

But I'm sure being falsely accused of it is pretty bad too. I do think it ruins lives. Some people here are talking as though it's no big deal.

^ On a whole different scale of worse, to be frank.

What happened to Lord McAlpine was awful, it was in fact, accidental, an error. And one that was put right. A traumatised victim was mistaken, not vindictive.

But I think the victim was always in a worse position than Lord McAlpine. His entire life was affected.

It's the Lord McAlpine thing again really - who said there is nothing worse than being falsely accused of paedophilia. When really, being a victim of paedophilia is clearly far, far worse.

We're talking about a violent crime - a crime against the person, a violation - a crime that will leave physical and mental scars on the victim probably forever.

I've read numerous times on this forum how men are in no position to dispute or criticise a woman's account of sexism/discrimination because it's just not possible to properly understand it unless you're a woman.

So why do women feel they can speak authoritatively on the extent to which a false rape allegation can ruin a man's life? Surely that kind if experience can only be appreciated by men?

So they won't get any publicity then. There is rarely publicity around a rape accusation if the person isn't famous, or if it isn't an already infamous case like John Worboys.

False accusations - much rarer and so easy for the media to use against women.

Go to a local crown court - every day there are rape cases tried that gain no publicity whatsoever. It's only if the local press have an 'interesting' case that they bother to cover it.

Most victims of false accusations aren't rich and famous footballers

Rape accusations don't ruin a man's life. Rape convictions don't either - look at Ched Evans and the support he's got. He's a convicted rapist. He was found guilty by a judge and jury - He'll end up playing again no doubt - he still has the support of his friends and family, while his victim hides with 3 different identities under her belt, away from her friends and family.

It is the lives of rape victims that are ruined - and they see justice in only a tiny percentage of cases.

"Does a woman's testimony not count as evidence any more?"

The line you quoted I wasn't even referring to rape- I posted "allegations of less serious crimes".

"A rape charge does not mean the man's name will be in the paper, and is not a life ruining event In most cases."

Sure, a guy having everyone think he's a rapist doesn't affect his life in the slightest. Why some wrongly accused men attempt or successfully commit suicide I'll never know.

"You appear to be saying that a murder charge is less serious and less 'life ruining' than a rape charge"

I don't know where you got that from, but I wasn't comparing rape to murder.

Confuddled, can't believe someone here said that to you. What a fucking ridiculous statement.

It's one thing to say you can't name someone a rapist if they have not been found guilty (I'd disagree personally...) but completely ludicrous to say that you can't say you've been raped unless a court has deemed it so. FGS. Must have been mistaken about my rapes too in that case

Another one who doesn't believe rape accusations ruin a man's life. I was raped aged 22 by a 19 year old. By then he already had a conviction because he had befriended an underage girl in a chat room, met her and raped her. My case wasn't prosecuted because he said it was consenting (nice little tip to would-be rapists there). His life was ruined by his conviction, it didn't affect what he did or how the CPS viewed it and neither did it stop him raping again.

(I have been chastised on MN in the past for saying I was raped because he was never never tried and found guilty, so I probably shouldn't have said that I was raped by him, I accused him of rape)

"People suspected of committing other crimes (including murder) don't get anonymity. Why are accused rapists so special that they need it? *haven't yet seen an answer that doesn't boil down to the poor, innocent men need to be protected from all the lying women"

Being wrongly accused of any crime isn't pleasant. But being accused of less serious crimes doesn't quite destroy the accused's life in the same way an accusation of rape would. For allegations of less serious crimes the police often won't even make an arrest unless the accuser has some sort of evidence, and even if they do go to court the media generally doesn't take much interest unless they are found guilty.

But when it comes to the topic of rape, the accuser's word is all it takes to land a guy in court and have his photo and name splashed all over the media (even before he goes to court and has a chance to say anything in his defence). Even if found not guilty, there will be no shortage of people will still believe he really is a rapist and treat him as such for the rest of his life (which means a life of receiving abuse/threats/violent attacks etc).

In many people's eyes, there is zero difference between men accused of rape and men convicted of rape.

"I think the OP should read 'retracted rape allegations' to be honest."

Actually, if someone is prosecuted for a false rape allegation then it really was a false rape allegation.

For a rape allegation to be recorded as such, it must be proven as such.

If a man is found not guilty through lack of evidence, that will not count as a false allegation.

If a woman simply retracts her accusation, that will not count as a false allegation.

But if a woman admits to lying, or as someone else said evidence such as the man being able to prove he was elsewhere or something then that will count as a false allegation.

Of course it is AICM, it's just the MN version of a Christmas jumper. Buffy will no doubt still be jolly reasonable, she'll just also be doing it while being festive.

Think reasonable, while wearing Christmas tree earrings.