I am worried innocent people will be accused with sexual assault for this reason.

[shockey80]

When I was in the army I watched a guy in our company get arrested for rape. Everyone was talking about it.

Two days later he was released. He had proof the girl was lying. It was a one night stand and they did have sex. The morning he left he wrote down his name, number, the name of his company and gave it to her. Rapists don't do that. When she was questioned about this she changed her story.

[janterry]

1. For so long women haven't been believed

I understand what you are saying, the pendulum is swinging and someone is bound to get hurt.

FWIW, (and even though most women don't lie - statistically speaking), I don't say 'I believe the women.' I think: "I listen to and respect the women."

And then I wait. There's a process to all things......

[hlthe2b]

2. I'd walk that back a bit. It sounds like you'd prefer women to be assumed to be lying rather than

risking ONE untruthful accusation to occur. Our system will never be perfect, but you own story shows that the matter was quickly cleared up when this particular individual was questioned.

The balance for millennia has been to blame, shame, ignore, discount women who have been victimized. NEVER to give benefit-of-the doubt to the accusers EVEN when countless numbers came forwarrd. Those men were never called to account and continued to victimize others.

That balance HAS to shift.

[demmiblue]

8. Perfect response to a classic MRA talking point. n/t

[shockey80]

3. Please don't take my post the wrong way.

I am just saying we have to be careful. It is great that women are coming forward and exposing these pigs. We just have to remember some people may take advantage of this situation.

[Snackshack]

4. The

Potential for false allegations will always be present but it is far better that women come forward and report harassment and that any report is credibly investigated by law enforcement.

[Archae]

5. I keep getting reminded of the "Satanic Panic" from 30+ years ago.

Kids were molested, and the hysterics came out of the woodwork.

Hysterics, nutsoid "therapists," headline-at-any-cost "journalists" and ambitious politicians.

[Heather MC]

6. 2% of reported Rapes are found to be false Accusations

The problem with that is when a woman lies about being sexually assaulted she actually ruins it for the other 98% of women who are actually sexually assaulted.
Because people will use that 2% of false rape accusations to deny all rape accusations.

I believe LeeAnn tweeden is lying about what happened between her and Al Franken. And it's really sad that he can't defend himself because thanks to people like Donald Trump who actually have been sexually assaulting women and admitting to it. Because he dismissed his victim so quickly if Al Franken does that he will look like he's no better than Donald Trump.

My Hope Is that the truth will come out and people will realize this woman is just a lying best friend of Sean Hannity Fox News contributor.

[CatMor]

10. It is reported as 2%-8% and 2%-10% as false and

there are other studies with much higher percentages. False accusations hurt both men and women. Men are hurt being falsely accused and women who are raped or assaulted are hurt by not being believed.
It is a real problem.

[Heather MC]

11. I Agree

But even if the percentage is 10%. 90% of victims are actually telling the truth. And they unfortunately get silenced because 10% of the so-called victims are lying

[LisaL]

12. Even if it's 2 %, that means among accusations, there bound to be false ones.

And since right now it's trial by press, with no evidence beyond the reasonable doubt needed, innocent people are bound to be caught into this.

[SandyZ]

18. Here is the distinction and breakdown with the 'no crime' that increases to 8% or 10%.

police decisions to no-crime were frequently dubious and based entirely on the officer's personal judgment. Rumney notes that some officers seem to "have fixed views and expectations about how genuine rape victims should react to their victimization". He adds that "qualitative research also suggests that some officers continue to exhibit an unjustified scepticism of rape complainants, while others interpret such things as lack of evidence or complaint withdrawal as 'proof' of a false allegation".

*

FBI statistics[edit]
FBI reports from 1995, 1996, and 1997 consistently put the number of "unfounded" forcible rape accusations around 8%. In contrast, the average rate of unfounded reports for all "index crimes" (murder, aggravated assault, forcible rape, robbery, arson, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft) tracked by the FBI is 2%.[3][20][21] This estimate, however, does not appear in subsequent FBI reports.[22][23][24] This estimate was criticised as meaningless by academic Bruce Gross:

Many of the jurisdictions from which the FBI collects data on crime use different definitions of, or criteria for, "unfounded." That is, a report of rape might be classified as unfounded (rather than as forcible rape) if the alleged victim did not try to fight off the suspect, if the alleged perpetrator did not use physical force or a weapon of some sort, if the alleged victim did not sustain any physical injuries, or if the alleged victim and the accused had a prior sexual relationship. Similarly, a report might be deemed unfounded if there is no physical evidence or too many inconsistencies between the accuser's statement and what evidence does exist. As such, although some unfounded cases of rape may be false or fabricated, not all unfounded cases are false.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_accusation_of_rape

[nolabear]

7. And if you are, and are innocent, follow Frankens example.

I’m not saying he’s innocent but he openly encourages the truth being explored, investigated, etc. The worry men have about having to defend themselves in the one-in-a-million cases of false accusation is hysterical and incredibly harmful to the millions of women who live in minor and major states of fear every day about what HAS and could easily again happen.

The solution is to be honest and proud of who you are so your defense against the very rare false accusation is tight and supportable. And you might get screwed thecway innocent people have been since time began.

[LisaL]

9. Really? So there are no people in prison who have been falsely convicted?

[nolabear]

16. Did you read my post? Yes. There are.

What would you have people do?

[Denzil_DC]

13. That's always been the case.

There are no easy answers to it. It's even harder when many years may have elapsed.

Nobody accused should be convicted in the court of public opinion solely on the basis of their background or past deeds.

Nobody accusing should be branded in the court of public opinion as a liar solely on the basis of their background or past deeds.

[Not Ruth]

14. Hopefully, this will be the end of white male privilege

For too long, they have been violent offenders on the wrong side of the truth

[justiceischeap]

17. It seems to have happened to Blumenthal

A woman tweeted out her accusations about Blumenthal, he denied it. Daily Beast researched it and wrote an article about how the woman who accused him used a fake twitter account. With a fake picture and name. Misspelled the name of the town she supposedly lived in. Everything added up for Daily Beast that it was a false allegation.

I find it unbelievable that there are some people that refuse to step back and look at some of these accusations with a cynical eye—so, so easy to make an accusation on Twitter and have that go viral with nothing more than 280 or so characters.