In Syney’s blog post she attacks a
subject that should not be taken lightly, rape allegations. She specially
referenced an article where a woman accused a celebrity of rape nearly ruining
his career. Upon hearing about it he filed a lawsuit against her after she
admitted the claims were false. In the end the returning lawsuit had to be
dropped because they didn’t want to deter women from filing rape reports
because they don’t want to be counter-sued. I agree with Sydney that this was
not the right course of action and people should be punished for the false
claims.
After
reading Sydney’s post my mind went straight to the situation that arose at the
end of last year involving the University of Virginia and the article released
by Rolling Stone. The article in
short explained a situation where a girl was raped at a fraternity house by a
group of brothers a few years prior during her freshman year. She explained in
detail how she was tricked into being sexually assaulted by many of the
brothers and how she didn’t want to come out with the story as she didn’t want
the attention but she felt something should be done. Everyone had heard of the
story and it as time went on the truth came out. As it came to be known almost
all of the facts didn’t match up. The person she described didn’t exist, the
dates didn’t match up, and the description of the house was completely
inaccurate. Peoples lives’ were put at risk because of this story. My brother
went to high school and is very good friends with the president of Phi Kappa
Psi, the alleged fraternity, and he said that every member felt scared for
their safety. They didn’t want to go to class because they knew they were
targets, they couldn’t sleep in their beds because people were constantly
vandalizing the house and all of this occurred because someone made up a story.
I find the whole situation sickening.
As for what
we should do with those falsely report rape, that’s not for me to decide. It
impacts everyone differently but both people walking away free isn’t fair.
Countless athletes are accused of rape every year. Names such as Ben
Roethlisberger, Jameis Winston, Kobe Bryant and many others have all been
involved in sexual assault allegations. They are easy to target because they
are famous, have too much money to know what to do with, and sometimes don’t
make the best decisions (looking at you Jameis). Rape is a serious matter and
we should respect those that have the courage to come out when a traumatic
experience happens instead of using it to get attention.
Great point Jack. Rape is a terrible thing, and because of this it has become a situation we as people are all extremely sensitive too. It is sad that we have people abuse these feelings for their own gain. A couple of years ago an individual in my hometown who was several grades ahead of me was acused of rape. His respectable reputation was dragged through the mound of filth that the false accusation accused him of, to the point in which he was physically assaulted by the friend of the alleged "Victim" before her accusation were proven a sham. At one point I believe It looked as though this would keep him out of the military. When the truth came out, and thank God that it did, it seemed as though his reputation would never completely recover and he moved away to get a fresh start. Let us give rape the respect it deserves, and not abuse it for personal gain.
ReplyDeleteGood points all around. As we become more comfortable with discussing rape and sexual assault generally, it will be necessary to find a way to deal with the few instances of false accusations that may occur. I think the measured approach you suggest here is very appropriate. It is both crucial to not damage reputations prematurely while also not overreacting to a few false charges in a way that makes it harder for people to come forward. The balance is a difficult one.
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