comment by thenewgreen

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thenewgreen · 4898 days ago · link · · parent · post: Julian Assange's sex-crime accusers deserve to be named

This is a tough subject. Should a 19 yo girl that was raped have their name strewn about the papers etc? I don't think so, I think they have the right to some privacy. At the same time, unfortunately not all accusers are honest. Sometimes women falsely accuse men of sexual crimes. They can do this for any number of reasons, vengeance, financial gain, or just for attention . -It happens. Perhaps it would happen less if the women didn't have the shield of anonymity.

Because I think false accusations are the minority (unfortunately) I think women should still have the protection of anonymity.

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mk · 4897 days ago · link ·

This is a tough issue. There is no good situation for someone that has been raped. However, the accusation of rape has very serious consequences, and I think an adult should be responsible for the accusation.

I think the point that Naomi Wolf is making is that giving this anonymity prolongs the stigma that goes with rape victims, like it is a mar on someone's character, which it absolutely is not.

If someone murdered my family member, it would hurt every time I thought about it. However, I would deal with that so that the person could be publicly accused. Someone that has been raped has been wronged, and there is no shame in that. The shame that used to be affiliated with rape is rooted in a patriarchal society in which sex outside of marriage made a woman impure.

I have to wonder what the UK's law is regarding men who are raped. Do they remain anonymous?

+discuss+discuss

NotPhil · 4898 days ago · link ·

I'm sorry, but people are people, whether they're male or female, and some people will lie about quite serious things. When lying about one of those serious things automatically provides you with anonymity, well ... you should probably expect some abuse to occur.

Here are two articles from two different forensics journals which indicate that a significant amount of lying is going on about this sort of thing:

http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume6/j6_2_4.htm http://www.theforensicexaminer.com/archive/spring09/15/

Considering the amount of damage even an accusation of sex-related crimes will cause the accused, this represents a serious problem in our society.

You worry about the girl who accused someone having her name in the papers. Good for you, but why aren't you worried about the boy having his name appear in the papers too? His life will be ruined no matter whether the accusation is true or not.

This is probably why we hear so many accusations of sexual impropriety made about politically-involved people. These sort of accusations can be dangerous weapons, especially when those who wield it can do so anonymously.

+discuss+discuss

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thenewgreen · 4898 days ago · link ·

NotPhil, I am far too familiar with the ease in which a person can accuse another of a sex crime. I won't get in to details here, but trust me I know. It's scary, horrible-horrible-horrible shit. Aside from raping someone, the worst thing you can do to another human being is accuse them of raping you. The word itself carries so much potency and venom that the mere whisper of it can destroy a persons life -I know. When it is justifiably associated with someone, it should carry this venom, it is an atrocious act and should carry the highest penalty outside of death. You are right in suggesting that the boy will have his life ruined, in fact even if he is completely exonerated of all wrong doing he may always carry with him a feeling of self doubt or a fear of intimacy. These sort of things are very "dangerous weapons" and for that reason I understand why you would want to eliminate the anonymity given to the accuser.

Here is why I think it's important that the victims remain anonymous:

The emotional pain that a false accusation brings is enormous, there is no doubt about it. But there is no way it could compare to actually being raped. No way. Every time that your name appears in a paper, every time it's used on television more people know what's happened to you. It's essentially like pro-longing the brutality.

There is no perfect solution to this. Your points are valid, very valid. My suggestion would be that somehow if you are found to have falsely accused someone of rape then people should know about it. Your name should then be in papers, TV etcetera. -I'm sure this is unrealistic, but perhaps that would dissuade the false accusers.