you are missing the point: in many criminal cases the question is not "did the crime take place", the question is "is there sufficient evidence to convict THIS PERSON of the crime that is accepted to have taken place". if someone is found not guilty of murder, it doens't mean there was no murder. anyway, your proposed changes are a straw man. nothing in the above quote suggests the defendant should not be considered innocent till proven guilty. it suggests that rape not be the only crime in which there is a supposition the victim might be lying that is hugely disproportionate to the actual likelihood this is the case.
and drop the "person". most rapes - outside the fucked up power dynamic of prison rape, involve a man raping a woman (or sometimes a child). this "a person" stuff obscures that fairly important characteristic of rape. if you feel that's unfair to men, well, tough. i find it pretty tough that society basically says anyone who wants can shove his cock into my body without my consent and there's every chance he will get away with it because, hey! those women, they lie about rape. i know it's true, i saw a tabloid headline about it last week!
you know why false rape accusations make the headlines? because they're vanishingly fucking RARE. that and they feed nicely into the useful stereotype of women being flighty, evil-minded bitches who lie about rape to get innocent men into trouble for spurning them/because they had sex and regret it.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2007-05-24 10:55 pm (UTC)and drop the "person". most rapes - outside the fucked up power dynamic of prison rape, involve a man raping a woman (or sometimes a child). this "a person" stuff obscures that fairly important characteristic of rape. if you feel that's unfair to men, well, tough. i find it pretty tough that society basically says anyone who wants can shove his cock into my body without my consent and there's every chance he will get away with it because, hey! those women, they lie about rape. i know it's true, i saw a tabloid headline about it last week!
you know why false rape accusations make the headlines? because they're vanishingly fucking RARE. that and they feed nicely into the useful stereotype of women being flighty, evil-minded bitches who lie about rape to get innocent men into trouble for spurning them/because they had sex and regret it.