In the old fable, the more the boy lies about the wolves the less validity he has. Similarly, with every woman that is caught lying the less valid each woman becomes after that. Because of the women who lie about sexual assault, the women who have actually been assaulted might never get the justice they deserve.
The 2006 Duke Lacross team scandal, the UVA "gang rape" in 2012, or more recently the former Baylor football player Shawn Oakman; all these cases involve women lying about sexual abuse. These women get up on the stand under oath and lie about who sexually assaulted them and sometimes lie about being assaulted altogether. When these women lie about something as serious as rape it has ample consequences.
What they either don't realize or chose to ignore, is the fact that lying will significantly affect the way REAL sexual assault cases are handled.
Courts are going to want to see more and more evidence in order to convict people which could lead to actual offenders being let off solely because juries or judges are second-guessing themselves. On top of that, it is just flat out cruel to real victims. When they see these cases on TV that are so similar to their own, they relate to the "victim" and in turn believe everything they say; and when these cases come out as fake it can be devastating to the real victims.
Lying about sexual assault not only affects the victims but can ruin the accused person's life.
When a man is accused of sexual assault they are, without question, guilty to most people. People tend to jump to conclusions and more often than not they chose to believe the "victim" even when there is no evidence to support her claim.
"Oh, but look how upset she is he has to be guilty"
"You can't fake those tears"
Don't underestimate the lengths people will go to, to get what they want.
They were probably crying because they are committing a federal offense that they could be thrown in prison for. In my opinion, they should be thrown in prison. They are knowingly committing perjury (lying under oath) and possibly ruining someone's life. In some cases, the accused were in prison for years until the truth finally came out but at that point, it was too late. These men were already labeled rapists, they lost their jobs, they didn't get to finish school. These men, some of who had their whole career ahead of them, are now left with nothing but their "freedom" and the women who accused them are not only just as free but still have their lives intact.
The women who falsely accuse men of sexual assault should receive some of the same jail time and/or consequences that the men they accuse.
As a sister, the thought of some girl falsely accusing my brother of sexual assault is terrifying. Young men are living in a constant state of fear when it comes to interacting with women. I have heard some of them joke about how they are going to start carrying around contracts and cameras every time they talk to a girl, but the fact they even have to joke about that is ridiculous. Women these days are frustrated that men don't make the first move, but it's because literally anything they do could be considered assault and even if they don't do anything the girl could lie and say they did.
If a woman is caught lying about who assaulted her, the magnitude of the assault, or if she was assaulted at all; there should be serious consequences because the consequences that the person she accused received/could receive are life-altering.
