The following is based on When a woman says ‘I take it back’ False rape allegations can only hurt real victims, but recent high-profile cases don’t seem to be damaging, by Gita Sitaramiah, published in the Kansas City Star, March 17, 1997, METROPOLITAN EDITION, page D1 (accessed here through NewsBank). Staff writer Regina Akers also contributed].

This lengthy article reports:

Between September 1996 and February 1997, 13 rapes were reported to police at Independence, Missouri. Four of these reports were false. That according to a local police officer named David Lamken.

One denizen of that city was said recently to have made a false rape report because she wanted to pressure her landlord into installing new locks!

In the smaller Grandview, another local police officer, Robert Moser, said his department receives about 9 such reports a year, a quarter of which are false.

Note the word false used in the two citations above, not unfounded.

There is a lot of flim-flam in this article from the usual suspects, including this gem from Charlene Muehlenhard, an associate professor of women’s students and psychology at the University of Kansas:

“It’s never good for a woman to say she was raped and then say she wasn’t, because that hurts the credibility of all women”.

So it would be better if the woman really was raped!?

There is some common sense herein though, including from an activist named Tom Williamson who says highly publicised false allegations are an open invitation to some women to make false allegations just to hurt someone. He also said he would like to see heavier penalties for false accusers because fighting false allegations is expensive. And clearly he didn’t mean simply financially.


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