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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe charge that "Men are being falsely accused of sexual assault" ...
The charge that Men are being falsely accused of sexual assault is the misogynist version of Reverse Racism.
struggle4progress
(118,338 posts)of being sexist pigs!"
lapfog_1
(29,223 posts)"I mean Jeez... can't boys be boys anymore? I mean what 17 year old DIDN'T do this?"
That's the message going out to our kids right this minute.
ProfessorGAC
(65,168 posts)I was 17 once. I never did any such thing. So, when they say that, it's a lie.
lapfog_1
(29,223 posts)nothing even remotely close to that. Not the drinking, not the disrespect to women (girls then), not the remarks in the yearbook, nada.
ProfessorGAC
(65,168 posts)I drank a little beer in college (but in my case i actually mean a little, not like Brett-boy). And to the other 2, absolutely no.
Johnny2X2X
(19,114 posts)Here's the hard truth, most of these turds have something in their past they aren't proud of in regards to girls and sexual assault. They are so outraged that Kavanaugh is now answering for his rapes and assaults because that means that they could have to answer for their own. That is the truth of it here, that's why they are fighting so hard, because , "by golly, if they can make Mark Kavanaugh answer for his disgusting actions, then what's next, will they call me to the floor to answer for my own actions?"
That's what this is about, this group fights to go back to the time when date rape wasn't yet a thing and when boys could objectify and abuse girls at will with no consequences, those were the good old days for them.
shanti
(21,675 posts)A lot of men just don't want to talk about this, because either they, or someone they know, is guilty of the same!
DeminPennswoods
(15,290 posts)Back when Jerome Bettis was playing for Pittsburgh, a woman accused him of sexual assault. It turned out she and a professer at Pitt, iirc, cooked up the scheme to extort hush money from Bettis.
IluvPitties
(3,181 posts)DeminPennswoods
(15,290 posts)nt
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Not one person I'm aware of has ever stated "no male has ever been falsely accused."
MineralMan
(146,329 posts)are never accused of sexual assault. In fact, it's rare. And yet, it IS sexual assault. Adolescent boys try it all the time, and often with no idea whether the girl wants to be groped or not. They just grab and squeeze.
That almost never gets reported. Getting groped is such a common occurrence that most people aren't even aware that it is a sexual assault, but it is.
My father told me to keep my hands to myself with girls unless I had an invitation. That's how he put it. It made sense to me. I learned that most of the girls I dated in high school weren't all that bashful about doing the inviting if you weren't all handsy from the get-go. So, following my dad's advice really didn't slow things down much at all, and prevented misunderstandings.
Ohiogal
(32,062 posts)If you were a girl, just walking through a crowded hallway to get to your next class was a trial.
Boys would "accidentally brush up against you". Always across your chest.
Boys would stand under the stairwells and look up girls' dresses and hoot and holler. (we weren't allowed to wear pants to school back then).
Boys would leer at you. Or make vulgar comments about your body. Or just stare at you.
I surely hope this has gotten better since I was in school. I have tried to teach my sons proper behavior around girls and around all people in general. I just think most men have no idea what we young girls had to go through back then.
MineralMan
(146,329 posts)I never did any of that stuff, but it sure happened a lot. I didn't really hit puberty until near the end of 8th grade. Then, it came on me suddenly and very, very quickly. I grew 10" in height in just four months, and went into high school as a freshman at almost 6' tall. I added another couple of inches, but that was it. So, suddenly, I was a mess.
My reaction was to go into shy and bashful mode, though. That lasted about a year. Once that was done, I began interacting with the girls at high school, but never in an aggressive or "entitled" way. I saw guys taking an aggressive approach and the reactions most girls had to that, so I avoided being that guy.
It all worked out just fine. I had several girlfriends, and even a 2-year relationship with one girl the last two years of high school. We were a pretty adventurous couple, but sexual things we did progressed very slowly over time. Throughout that relationship, I simply let her take the initiative in exploring that stuff. That seemed like the only fair way to make sure I wasn't pushing things. It worked out just fine, actually. Fifty years later, we finally ran into each other again and laughed at what we'd gotten up to back in high school. No regrets on either side, which was the idea in the first place.
Response to live2011 (Original post)
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moriah
(8,311 posts)... I'd say false accusations of rape are less common than police shooting unarmed black people.
Welcome to DU!
And it's always the same three, too. Meanwhile, a search of Google News will turn up as many cases of actual sexual assault as you can handle. Daily. Weekly. Whatever.
So, those false reports? I consider them to be rare, rare things.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)The very highest end of meaningful estimates is that 10% of accusations are false. Most analyses put it between 2% and 5%. The same as any other crime.
Do your fucking research.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)The percentage is much lower if you factor in the assault cases that are never reported.
Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)which seems high to me but that seems to be the agreed upon estimate.
So you are absolutely right, in terms of comparing it to all rapes rather than just the reported ones.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Lemme help you out there, fella.
In our context, 'common' means widespread, of frequent occurrence, usual.
Try not to confuse the statistical aberration with the statistical standard.
Hope that helps both you and your good friend Websters!
Nevilledog
(51,197 posts)MrsCoffee
(5,803 posts)And incels.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,198 posts)I never automatically believe any accusations off the bat.
However, I do think the persons making the accusations have a right to be heard in good faith, with the facts being considered without any preconceived biases or judgments.
Just as an example, I had to put aside any feelings I had towards Bill Clinton and logically consider the allegations of the two women who back in the late 90s claimed he assaulted them in the past, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick.
I ultimately believed neither of them. Not because of my affinity towards Clinton, but because their stories did not logically add up and were full of inconsistencies. Willey I admit I feel sorry for, not because I believe her, but because I think she has some deep seated mental issues. Broaddrick, on the other hand, is vile scum and obvious partisan hack. If you don't believe me, just check her Twitter page for 5 minutes.
Same thing when allegations of misconduct came out against Al Franken. In the end, the only thing I think he did inappropriate was take a picture in poor taste.
On the other hand, there have been times where I've had to come to terms with the fact that accusations are credible.
I mean, I loved Bill Cosby's work. I loved The Cosby Show, Fat Albert, his standup acts. But having to review the facts, it became obvious that the claims against him had merit, and the fact that I liked his work didn't change that fact.