Let’s Talk About False Rape Accusations And The Unanswered Questions

Sitting on my bed this morning, I got thinking about false rape allegations ( actually, the thought was triggered by something I recently saw on twitter). We’re not going to undermine how bad and traumatizing rape is, but then, are some ladies taking it too far?

Is there a different definition of what rape is now? Should we believe every lady that talks about being raped on social media?

A twitter user made it her responsibility to ask women who have been raped before to share their stories (which is a good thing) and some of them went ahead to identify their rapists. She went ahead and published the stories of these women, keeping their identity hidden but revealing that of the men that were accused. Hmm…

Some people applauded her action while others criticised her; asking questions like did she take any measure to confirm the women’s stories before tagging the men as rapists. This was a valid question because one of the women who sent her story to the publisher retracted her claims and apologized to the man she accused of raping her.

Many conversations were generated online focusing on ‘to what extent should we believe these ‘experiences’ shared on social media?’ and what measures should be taken to verify people’s claims or accusations before labelling the accused? False accusation especially one such as ‘rapist’ can mar the life of the accused if he was innocent.

Like I said earlier, I’m not trying to undermine the severity of rape, definitely some of these accusations some, however, can be fabricated and published on social media. What should be believed on social media? how can stories be verified? and what punishment can be given to people who falsely accuse another person or people of rape? 

These are questions I would really love to have answers to.

Xoxo,

Mimie Jay 💜