Oxford schoolgirl abduction didn't happen, police suddenly announced

It doesn't have to have been calculated for her to have been worried that admitting that she'd met up with them would mean she'd be blamed.

She was found distressed, running and knocking on doors confused. This wasn't a calculated thing, she'd suffered an awful ordeal.

against her will

I think it's pretty likely that, at fourteen years old, the girl may have agreed to an arranged meeting that she knew would be disapproved of by her teachers and parents.

Although none of us can know, IMO it's more likely that she lied about going willingly because in the stress of the moment, she didn't want to get into trouble about it. It seems less likely to me that she weighed it all up and felt that a woman making a rape accusation would be less credible if she met up with the people involved willingly.

She could still have arranged to a meeting somewhere but have gone somewhere else under duress or, presumably, stayed somewhere under duress. So the feeling of being taken and held under her will would probably have been present.

Memes? About a child's rape? Wtf?!

Grooming is going on in pretty much every city and town in the UK. It's not just a handful men, who might be dissuaded because they see some convictions. It's thousands and thousands of men, from all backgrounds, most of whom will never even be reported, let alone caught. Depressing but true.

Oxford had seen some bad grooming cases, and convictions and long sentences. One would like to think that's discouraged the remaining filth which is inclined to this sort of offending, but perhaps not

Good point about the possibility of online grooming and therefore not being sure about their real identities. Hopefully if that's the case the Police may be able to track them down using the info on the girl's computer/phone.

Poor child, whatever happened to her it was obviously incredibly traumatic.

Yes - sexual exploitation is very common, but often goes unreported. Sadly, girls who get drawn in by abusive men are often viewed as being partly to blame, as having somehow colluded.

Rape is rape is rape. I feel so sad that this girl felt that she had to claim she'd been abducted to be taken seriously. She knew that she would be blamed and disbelieved if she told the truth. That tells us far more about our society, amd how it fails rape victims, than it tells us about her.

So we create a climate in which girls and women who allege rape against men with whom they have had any degree of willing contact are routinely vilified as liers. we communicate clearly to girls that only in circumstances of abduction will they ever be believed. What in the name of arse do we honestly expect to result from that?
Is it possible people are this stupid? Don't answer that. Of course it is.

^ tbh not gbh!

Gbh, given how common online grooming is, and how often older men lie about their identity in order to lure young girls into meeting with them, that seems like a strong possibility to be. Grooming a girl online and lying about your identity may not have the shock value of an abduction, but it's every bit as abhorrent.

For example - she could have communicated with them online beforehand, and gone to meet up, but that doesn't mean they were honest about who they were. She could have thought she was going to meet a boy her own age.

They would still be strangers, but there wouldn't be an 'abduction'.

(That is a hypothetical scenario btw - I don't know the details)

The polive haven't said they weren't strangers.

now they need to find the attackers.

If they weren't strangers then surely the victim can identify them?

Terribly sad story and this poor girl will be vilified for saying she was abducted when it seems she wasn't. As others have said, this will unfortunately cast doubt on her report of being raped if this ever reaches court. The defence team will have a field day with it

I'm currently reading 'Misogynies' by Joan Smith and sadly it seems that in the couple of decades since it was written, as a society we don't seem to have moved on from the 'it must be her fault' narrative for rape. This is a 14 year old girl who 'may' have met up with a man/men willingly but that does not mean that she wanted to have sex with them. I can understand why she might have lied about going willingly - I probably would have made the same decision if I was scared and worried that I would be blamed for the actions of the man/men in question. The belief that girls/women routinely lie about sexual assault is so bizarre. Poor girl...she seems to have fallen out of the 'perfect victim' category and is now deemed somehow complicit in the crime.

I hope she has supportive friends and family around her.

Poor girl. Those who are calling her a liar and feeling sorry for the men should feel ashamed of themselves. It's all too common a story though.

Sadly, even if the peretrators are found now (and they may be - my rapist was identified through DNA well over a decade after the event), her chances of getting a conviction will be affected by this, no matter how understandable her reasons.

And of course if there is no conviction then everyone doubting her story will have a field day.

Cue lots of "I told you she was lying!", "throw her in jail!", "name and shame her, etc!".

Because everyone knows that no conviction = false accusation...

It's pickledonions who is confused, not anyone else.

"You lot need to go and have a bath and calm down or something" I'm glad you can be calm when a 14 year old girl is victim blamed and doubted at every turn. I won't deny seeing that happen enrages me and doesn't exactly keep me calm.