When it comes to discussions of rape the term “false accusation” can be misleading to those who hear it, even before we get to the fact that some men (and women) obviously prefer to imagine that women frequently LIE about rape. Rarely, people do lie about rape but the term “false accusation” may variously also include cases where, for example, police misidentify a perpetrator, where a witness does so, where a third party accuses someone, where a victim picks the wrong stranger out of a line-up, where a victim withdraws a complaint and where there’s insufficient evidence.
I think there are several factors at play, one of which being that since 1.1% of reported rapes in the US and 1.7% in the UK ever see prosecution - some men do make the bad faith claim that the other 98+% are therefore “false claims”. Secondly, in the US it is not uncommon for police to browbeat an accuser into backing down - there was a whole tv show about it called Unbelievable where the police forced a young woman to recant her very real rape report and it allowed the man to go on an commit many other offenses. She was even threatened with jail time. The serial rapist and murderer Reginald Kimbro is another example, several women reported that he raped them while strangling them and there’s footage of one woman giving her report and the cop is actively telling her she “wanted” him to strangle her because some women like it. She is so gobsmacked she just stops talking. They interviewed Kimbro several times and took at his word that the women wanted to be strangled into unconsciousness and he went on to murder at least two women despite dna evidence linking him to several rapes. One he murdered immediately after walking out of questioning for the murder of Molly Matheson - he got upset, left the police station and immediately went and raped and killed a woman on a jogging path. The woman who was told by police she wanted to be strangled was most assuredly considered to be making one of those oh so common “false claims”.
It’s appalling that any of this happened, let alone all of it.
The idea women secretly want the harms being done to them is one of the really dark myths a lot of men seem to hold. And it’s one of the factors that makes it very hard to get any kind of decent help from the police for rape victims.
I forgot to mention the 18yo woman made to recant her rape report was also charged and fined and put on probation -then was the subject of such a public smear campaign she had to quit her job. Thats the other thing these "false rape claim!1!" whiners fail to mention - women get charged and even imprisoned for "false claims", often longer sentences than men typically get for the actual crime of rape.
I think there are several factors at play, one of which being that since 1.1% of reported rapes in the US and 1.7% in the UK ever see prosecution - some men do make the bad faith claim that the other 98+% are therefore “false claims”. Secondly, in the US it is not uncommon for police to browbeat an accuser into backing down - there was a whole tv show about it called Unbelievable where the police forced a young woman to recant her very real rape report and it allowed the man to go on an commit many other offenses. She was even threatened with jail time. The serial rapist and murderer Reginald Kimbro is another example, several women reported that he raped them while strangling them and there’s footage of one woman giving her report and the cop is actively telling her she “wanted” him to strangle her because some women like it. She is so gobsmacked she just stops talking. They interviewed Kimbro several times and took at his word that the women wanted to be strangled into unconsciousness and he went on to murder at least two women despite dna evidence linking him to several rapes. One he murdered immediately after walking out of questioning for the murder of Molly Matheson - he got upset, left the police station and immediately went and raped and killed a woman on a jogging path. The woman who was told by police she wanted to be strangled was most assuredly considered to be making one of those oh so common “false claims”.
It’s appalling that any of this happened, let alone all of it.
The idea women secretly want the harms being done to them is one of the really dark myths a lot of men seem to hold. And it’s one of the factors that makes it very hard to get any kind of decent help from the police for rape victims.
I forgot to mention the 18yo woman made to recant her rape report was also charged and fined and put on probation -then was the subject of such a public smear campaign she had to quit her job. Thats the other thing these "false rape claim!1!" whiners fail to mention - women get charged and even imprisoned for "false claims", often longer sentences than men typically get for the actual crime of rape.