A few days ago, baseball star Jose Canseco took to Twitter to defend himself against an allegation of rape from a woman whom he appears to know quite well. He tweeted the accusation, the accuser’s name, her address, a picture of the gym where she works out and publicly offered to take a lie detector test to get the ball rolling on the criminal investigation.
It appears that the tweets containing her personal information have been deleted, but even if they hadn’t, I wouldn’t repost them, and I’ll explain why in just a moment.
Of course, Jezebel picked up the story and ran with it, but I have a feeling the ladies over there are in complete and utter shock at the responses they garnered. It seems like a good number of their commenters are well aware that false-allegations are a “thing”, and that Jose has every right to defend himself and come out swinging. No one is defending rapists over there, but they are also not automatically assuming Jose is guilty. I guess the whole “all men are rapists” fairytale is showing a few cracks.
“..for something she may or may not have done.”
I don’t care if he makes her life a living hell if she is going around falsely accusing him of fucking raping her. Jesus.
“..and god forbid the (possible) rapist have any repercussions for HIS actions.”
If he is an actual rapist then hopefully the repercussion will be time in prison
http://jezebel.com/jose-canseco-tweets-name-number-and-photo-of-alleged-r-509368100
Naturally, someone posted this infographic, which I have seen a number of times, and it always makes me giggle a bit because… math is hard, Barbie.
We’re supposed to take all those watermarked allegations of rape and mark them “guilty” in our minds. Innocent until proven guilty? Not when it comes to rape. No, no and no. All the murky little guys are 100% guilty, and ta-da! False rape allegations are as rare as teeth on an alligator.
Oh wait. Oops. Fucked up my metaphor there.
If we look at just those cases where there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial (and sorry, we’re not chucking the requirement for evidence just yet. Justice works so much better when there is actual PROOF, which is weird, but hey, so is the fact that the earth is round. How come we don’t fall off?!?!?!)
So thirty rapes had sufficient evidence to proceed to trial. Ten of those resulted in a conviction (I assume jail time means conviction?). And two of them did not just have insufficient evidence to secure a conviction, they were point-blank lies. For every ten rape convictions, there are two false allegations. Not just “couldn’t prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt” but straight up lies. Did not happen. Complete fabrications. Utter bullshit.
Duke Lacrosse, anyone?
Are the numbers on the infographic true? I don’t know. It’s not even clear if the two false allegations are part of the group that had sufficient evidence to proceed to trial. Perhaps they were determined to be false right from the get go, but it seems more logical to me that the veracity of the claims were proven to be false after investigation. I doubt the accusers just came forward and admitted they lied.
The whole graphic is a snow-job, if you ask me. All part of “rape culture” wherein all men are potential rapists and all women are innocent angels cruelly abused and discarded, by both men and the justice system.
No matter what the actual numbers are, the fact remains that false allegations of rape do happen, and the consequences for the accused can be devastating. An accusation can have a life-altering impact on the accused, while the accuser waltzes away scot-free.
Here is Jared White, writing about Dominique Strauss-Kahn:
One accusation from a woman has destroyed this man’s career. One accusation from a woman has made this man a criminal in the public eye. One accusation from a woman put an electronic tracking bracelet around this man’s ankle. One accusation from a woman placed this man under armed guard where he slept. One accusation from a woman has drained millions of dollars from this man’s finances. One accusation from a woman has brought all of this turmoil down on this man and the worst part of it is the most sickening.
http://www.avoiceformen.com/mens-rights/false-rape-culture/one-accusation/
And that’s largely because in rape accusations, and only in rape accusation, the accuser is awarded anonymity while the accused is not. The courts in the UK are grappling with the unintended consequences of shielding accusers while allowing the courts of public opinion to pass verdict on the accused, likening rape trials to “justice” as conceived by totalitarian regimes.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2280815/Anonymity-rape-suspects-I-say-men-AND-women.html
Jose Canseco, perceiving that he was about to get tied to a stake in the public square, got a jump on justice and outed his accuser, and for that, I applaud him. Good for you, Jose! Let her face the public, just as you will have to. Let’s confront the fact that “innocent until proven guilty” only applies to women when the allegation is rape.
Now, having said that, I think Jose was wrong to post her personal details. To my knowledge, an accused’s NAME will be made public, and almost certainly his occupation and place of employment, but NOT his phone number, or his address or where he works out. Giving out such personal information creates vulnerability and the opportunity for vigilante justice, and while I understand the anger and sense of injustice that prompted Jose to respond the way he did, he went too far.
The whole problem with shielding the accuser is that it invites a type of vigilantism against the accused. The public is invited to fill in the blanks, and they generally do so in a way that destroys the accused. That’s human nature. It’s why we have a justice system in the first place, and that system operates on one principle only:
INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY
Jose is simultaneously bringing to light a profound unfairness in the law when it comes to the crime of rape and exposing a deep hypocrisy in the way the culture, and feminist culture in particular, views sexual assault.
When it comes to the victim, rape is a serious crime that has devastating consequences. Every effort must be expended in the pursuit of justice and the victim’s testimony is to be treated as sacrosanct. The victim is to be shielded from scorn and stigma and not victimized further.
When it comes to the accused, rape is no big deal. An allegation is something that should be publicized, the accuser named and the presumption of innocence can be trampled without any lasting consequences.
Which is it? Is rape a big deal, or is it not?
And there’s the little story that is being pedalled in the back pages of our stories about rape: it’s the worst thing that can happen to a woman (victim), and no big deal for a man (accused) because that’s just how men are.
Bloody rapists. Raping for shits and giggles. It’s just a wee bit of fun. They all do it.
Right?
No wonder male victims of rape are treated as a joke. It doesn’t fit the narrative. It’s just a bit of comeuppance. All’s fair in love and war.
Jose Canseco is calling bullshit on that one. I think we should all be joining him. Rape is a crime. A very serious one. If you are going to accuse someone of rape, prepare to face the music. Let the symphony of public opinion remind you that everyone involved is innocent until proven guilty.
That’s how justice works. Anonymity for accusers in rape trials perverts what justice means. Justice may be blind, but people are not. If you are going to accuse someone of a crime, be prepared to stand up and look the whole world in the eyes.
And then make your case. If you can.
Lots of love,
JB
judgybitch 
The info graphic bothers me for the specific fact that the falsely accused are grouped in with the rapists. Is there such a thing as a falsely accused rapist? It also shows rapists and not rapes. This could mean 100 rapes or one very unlucky girl which would change the statics to 99 in 100 people enjoy gang rape.
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Is it me or do the fa hog ugly bitches at Jezebel like talking about rape just a little bit too much?
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Yes we have a rape culture problem! Feminists and their phalliphobic, penis envy and two faced hypocritical govt. ascended bullshit has raped our culture for decades. Take Gloria Steinem for example. Propagate man hate and and fishes with bicycles while bouncing her cute little mini skirt wearing ass in musical mattresses with politicians. Polititians will pass bullshit to enable feminist indoctrinated women to do this to someone without evidence or due process but no polititian is going to give up their free supply of ass….This shit makes me want to rage!
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Two debunkings of that stupid infographic, one from the manosphere, and one from the very liberal slate:
http://glpiggy.net/2013/01/08/a-graphic-display-the-anatomy-of-a-lie/
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/01/08/the_enliven_project_s_false_rape_accusations_infographic_great_intentions.html
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Another debunking, with links to yet more debunkings, including the honest courtesan
http://blog.bennettandbennett.com/2013/01/lies-damn-lies-and-infographics.html
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I hate to have to say this, but the enormous amount of false rape accusations have had an unintended and possibly deadly outcome:
Men are no longer believing women.
I was subjected to false rape accusations from my ex-wife in order to secure lack of visitation rights to my daughter.
No proof was presented, and it never went to trial, because it never happened… however, the mere mention of allegations of abuse are more than enough for family court.
The problem is, there is a generation of men, let’s call them ‘former knights errant’, that are completely and utterly unconcerned with rape allegations… or for that matter, abuse, or virtually any violence perpetrated against women.
We are the guys that 20 years ago would have jumped into a hopeless fight to protect a stranger being harassed by a gang of men. we would have started swinging ‘a walk in the clouds’ style against any man that disrespected a woman, and would even get violent (if neccessary) in order to keep men from cussing in FRONT of a woman.
It’s said that the harder you hold to a principle, the more you rebel when you let the principle go.
If I saw a woman getting violently raped in front of me today, I am not even sure I would bother calling the police. I assume any rape accusation is a bald-faced lie unless instant incontrovertible proof is involved, and I doubt I would even intervene if I saw a woman getting beaten by a man.
I simply no longer care.
THAT is why men need feminism… so they can stop caring.
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Those Duke lacrosse boy’s lives will never be repaired as a result of the false accusation of Chrystal mangum. Let’s hope we’ve learned our lesson with Jose.
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Your GD right, 20 years ago, in the midst of the child sexual molestation Salem Witch-hunt my cunt of an ex-wife (married to her at time of accusation) accused me of molesting our four year old daughter. Being active duty military at the time due process was removing me from the house and restricting me to the dormitories for six weeks. Shit went downhill from there; the charges were so flimsy they were tossed, however, to prove my innocence so as not to get kicked out of the AF I paid $250, good money for the time for a poly. Eventually it all cleared and I got my clearance back. My children are in their 20s now, I had no money then after paying support child/spouse to go to court for my visitation rights. I can speak to them now that they are grown, but lots of time was lost never to return.
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Hi JB, I’ve been reading your blog for a while, but haven’t bothered to comment yet. (Everyone else makes such fantastic comments, what’s there to add?)
One of the things I’ve seen most feminist bloggers say about false rape accusations is that “it just doesn’t happen very often. The number of occurrences of false rape accusations is minuscule in comparison to actual rapes.” Ok, very well, let’s give feminists the benefit of the doubt and assume they are correct. Let’s assume false rape accusations are not a huge problem. Despite that, their method of “ignore it because it’s not a huge problem” is actually very problematic. Ignoring such an issue and letting even a tiny amount of false accusers get off scot-free will only serve to snowball the issue. What is there to deter women from making false accusations if they know they’ll face no consequences at all, either from the justice system or from society at large? Hell, they could even get rich!
When you have a major problem, you do not fix it by ignoring it until it potentially gets worse and more difficult to solve. You nip it in the bud to prevent it from becoming any bigger, to show the world that lies and perversions of the justice system will not be tolerated. But feminists would rather see the false rape problem ignored because it doesn’t fit in with their rape culture narrative. They would rather ignore an issue that destroys lives for the sake of perpetuating their women-are-always-victims worldview no matter how much they destroy in the process. Families, lives, the relationship between men and women, the stability of society itself. Well done feminists, well done.
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Yeah and there is Jessica Valenti wanting laws that will bring a rape charge with nothing but an accusation. Fuck this world!!!
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In Sates you have that “rape culture”. We have no, in Spain. But we have a lot of men being verbally and even physically (Yes: PHYSICALLY) abused by women and this men are so afraid of going to the Police because they think their male peers are going to laugh about them. You can watch that Allen’s movie: “Vicky, Christina, Barcelona” and you can watch that character played by Penelope Cruz. That is not an exaggeration. At all. Thety are actually like that.
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I wonder what will happen when social media is used to identify rape accusers, abrogating current rape shield laws?
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When it comes to the accused, rape is no big deal. An allegation is something that should be publicized, the accuser named and the presumption of innocence can be trampled without any lasting consequences.
Disagree. The feminists do think rape is a big deal. They actually do think that just an accusation should be taken as a conviction. That’s what’s behind their push that all victims should always be believed. It’s the reason that false rape accusations are almost never prosecuted: it might discourage women who have been raped from coming forward. It’s the reason for this recent sudden narrative of “rape culture,”: the incidence of rape has been dropping for decades, and you can’t use rape as a bludgeon to hold over men if there isn’t a lot of rape, so you make rape a “culture” that doesn’t need actual evidence for support. It’s the reason that feminists push to expand the definition of rape to acts that are clearly not rape. It’s also the reason for the push to expand the definition of domestic violence to acts that don’t involve any actual violence (harsh words and “emotional abuse).
Vilifying men accused of rape in public is definitely a big deal. But not because they might possibly be rapists, but because they are men. Men who happen to have this male sexuality. And that shit has got to be locked down and controlled. By women.
Assumed guilt on only an accusation isn’t a bug, it’s a feature…
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Have you read these over at AVFM?
http://www.avoiceformen.com/feminism/government-tyranny/spanish-gender-stalinism-part-i/
http://www.avoiceformen.com/feminism/government-tyranny/spanish-gender-stalinism-part-ii/
Eye-opening, to put it mildly. Having spent a fair amount of time in Spain years ago (during the ’90s), I would never have imagined this being an aspect of Spanish culture. I guess the Anglosphere’s cultural rot is finally infecting the rest of the western world.
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Don’t forget she also wants us to ditch 200 years of American jurisprudence, and have the legal system assume that those charged with rape are guilty until proven innocent. Can’t prove your innocence? Off to the slammer you go. Trying to prove a negative is a damn hard thing to do.
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“While I understand the anger and sense of injustice that prompted Jose to respond the way he did, he went too far.”
Fuck that! Lets publish the bitches info!
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So, to reflect the most balanced take on the issue, what is the proper number of the black silhouettes (false rape accusations) in the infographic above? Let’s see… Between 2 and 8 percent, halfway is 5 percent… out of 1000 silhouettes total… it seems about 50 false rape accusations. Way more than two, right? It’s because patriarchy, of course, that feminists have trouble with math. Snort.
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And shouldn’t the black ones be included WITHIN the “reported rapes” category? In that case they would make exactly HALF of it…
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…while in reality false rape accusations as a percentage of reported rapes are as follows:
Finally, where does the 2% number come from? Explicitly, still another assumption. You can find a bigger and more credible number, 5.9%, here— certainly not a hotbed of rape apologists. (Note that this statistic is based on allegations being proven untrue. An unproven allegation—a “not guilty,” for example—would count as true.) If you wanted a credible reason to assume that the number was even bigger—25%—you could find it here: “ Forensic DNA typing laboratories — as numerous commentators have noted — encounter rates of exclusion of suspected attackers in close to 25 percent of cases.”
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Maybe justice is blind should really be followed and the trial run without identities at all? Only “the accused” and “the accuser”. With the naratives being told only refering to those identities.
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In which case you also end up with 50 men falsely accused of rape, and 10 men convicted of rape.
Given how an accusation destroys lives, this would explain why some police are reluctant to pursue rape cases.
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