109 women prosecuted for false rape claims in past 5 years

1 of those 209 is actually from the area I live in, as I used to know her. There was overwhelming evidence and she did get sentenced if I remember rightly.

Thankyou for the statistics destiny, it's interesting to read those. Whilst harrowing.

Let's not get overheated here.

109 women in 5 years is about 22 women a year and I cannot believe that they were prosecuted lightly and without evidence. They were tried before a jury and the evidence must have been compelling (considering it should be 'beyond reasonable doubt') before being found guilty or they pleaded guilty.

In 2011 over 1900 men were convicted of rape so multiplied over 5 years would be around 9,500.

Women who falsely accuse a man (who is named while she keeps her anonymity) can cause just as much devastation to his life as a woman who is truly raped. It can end with him being innocent and in prison and his life ruined.

She also makes it more difficult for real victims to come forward and in their own way makes real victims less believable and victimise them further.

Men who rape are criminals and deserve the full force of the law to be heaped on them.

Women who lie under oath and crucify an innocent man deserve the same. If it was your husband or brother who you trusted totally being wrongfully accused would you be quite so biased?

Wrong is wrong whether you are a man or a woman and the situation where victims are treated badly or not believed has no bearing on the argument.

Taking the figures in the OP, 109 convictions for false reporting is a conviction rate between 9% and 26%, assuming that all false reports are prosecuted and no true reports are prosecuted. The rates drop if any significant number of true reports are proscuted (for example a recantion under duress being prosecuted) - so the rates get lower the less trust you have in the judicial system.

I don't see what we can do here though.

I'm disgusted that people who recant are being prosecuted, because there are many reasons why someone would chose to not go ahead with prosecution - been there, done that.

But at the same time I also understand that women can't falsely accuse and expect it to be washed away. If there is overwhelming evidence then they have done so, then absolutely they should.

I'm wondering what the statistics are in regards to how many women have been prosecuted for 'lying', and how many men have been prosecuted for rape. And how come one might be easier to prove than the other? Or is it down to pressure and bullying?

The thing that worries me, based on the various news reports of these cases I've read, is the nature of what is considered to be evidence the accusation is false. I'm sure in some cases there might be evidence that intercourse didn't even take place, or that the woman has been filmed going 'Give it to me big boy!' or plotting with her best friend to falsely accuse a man and ruin him, but in 2 cases I've read about they were talking about texts she sent him afterwards that didn't suggest there had been a rape - I assume 'thank you for a lovely evening, see you again soon' type thing.
But we know from many women's experience that often it takes victims time to even recognise they've been raped at all: in date rape they don't generally go, 'Oi! You've just raped me!', they go through the motions of a normal end to a date and it's only when they describe the incident afterwards that someone points out that actually if she was asking him to stop and he wouldn't and just carried on it was rape.

As a non-Brit I have been really appalled at how rape victims are treated in the UK -- not that the US is so much better, but for example the idea that you can't get counseling while waiting for your trial is CRAZY, how on earth can they get away with this. It's only about the most traumatic thing you can have happen to you, of course you should get counseling, it seems like medical malpractice if you can't.

The fact that if you do go to counseling you have to reveal your notes -- it's like you, the victim, are on trial, it's ridiculous.

What I would really like to see is how often false claims are pursued for other offences. Plenty of people say things are stolen instead of lost, or claim someone attacked them when they didn't -- are these always pursued so aggressively?

Redruby a very lovely friend of mine who is a GP mentioned once that removing a tampon that's been inside a woman for too long is the grimmest thing she has ever smelled at work, so this man might not be misogynistic, just remembering something really horrible.

My friend said that what sometimes happens is women forget they've already got a tampon in, insert a new one, then remember the original one or notice the smell themselves, and panic and go to the doctor rather than just having a rummage and taking it out.

So while your stories are very upsetting, the situation itself is not necessarily sinister. It's not physically possible for a tampon to get lost inside you. What is common is women being too unfamiliar with their bodies and too squeamish about them to have a feel and get the thing out, which is a shame in itself.

Sorry, total derail.

AWholeLottaNosy.

I believe you

Please try to ignore Prashad, s/he seems to get their jollies from pretending to be completely stupid in order to do some fluttery eyelash disingenuous bollocks. I'm just hoping that they don't know how much they harm people by doing that, rather than that they do and are getting something out of it.

And Yes Line.

Oh, is prashad a goady fucker?

This is slightly off topic so I apologise for that.

I once met a male doctor who told me the most repulsive thing he had to do as a GP was to remove a tampon from women who 'had lost it up there' or 'forgot to take it out'. He looked disgusted as he said it.

I asked him if he looked for evidence of bruising on their thighs or wrists or neck. He said no and looked puzzled.

I told him this;

"I have known two friends who have gone to their GP with this problem. Both of them had been raped. Hence the tampon lodged deep inside their vaginas'

They were too ashamed to say they had been raped. He didn't even think to look or ask how this 'oversight' happened.

I hope he does now.

My empire- I see a counsellor at the rape and sexual violence place and she won't let me talk about it, incase that causes problems in court. We can only talk about how it has affected me since.

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

If it is a false rape allegation of course they should be prosecuted.
I have seen and heard what the allegations can do to a person, it is sickening and I think they should have the book thrown at them.

Nobody should be prosecuted for retraction as that is different, it isn't saying you falsely accused, but that you don't want to continue to prosecute. The two are totally different.

Sorry Caulkhead, that was to prashad.

So sorry you went through that. So fucking awful.

The only case like that, where I was close to the accused, the woman was very, very mentally unwell. It was in no-one's interests to prosecute or name her - not hers, or her family's, or the accused's as it happens.

The NHS let down that woman appallingly.

I wanted to retract my rape claim and was told that it was likely I would then be prosecuted for either wasting police time or falsely claiming it happened.

I wanted to retract it because I don't want to face him again and I can't talk about it in counselling/therapy incase that affects what I think about it.

For the record, I don't think that withdrawing a rape claim should automatically result in prosecution for perverting the course of justice.

But if you had a case, say, where a woman accused a specific man... and then he had a rock solid alibi (was in work, abroad, or something)... then that's a more clear cut example of a case that should be prosecuted.

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