False Rape Research Articles

Television's Role in the Culture of Violence Toward Women: A Study of Television Viewing and the Cultivation of Rape Myth Acceptance in the United States

This study approached cultivation from a feminist, ecological perspective that recognized television at the macrosystem level as a purveyor of cultural norms embedded in a culture of violence towards women. The results suggest that general television consumption is related significantly to first- and second-order rape myth beliefs among men and women. Data also indicate positive relationships between soap opera viewing and both rape myth acceptance (second order beliefs) and the overestimation of false rape accusations (a first order belief), and a negative relationship between crime-show viewing and rape myth acceptance. Gender was a significant predictor of rape beliefs above and beyond the contributions of television viewing and other individual- and micro-level variables.

(Un)reasonable Doubt: A "Narrative Immunity" for Footballers against Sexual Assault Allegations

(Un)reasonable Doubt: A "Narrative Immunity" for Footballers against Sexual Assault Allegations

Behind the Torment of Rape Victims Lies a Dark Fear: Reply to the Commentaries

The historic and continuing preoccupation with the issue of false rape allegations is embedded in a profound fear of the vulnerability that rape victims represent. That fear leads to an intense need to shun the victim, a shunning that is accomplished most effectively by disbelieving that a rape ever occurred. Ironically, the preoccupation with false rape allegations increases our collective vulnerability. It serves to further undermine the criminal justice response to rape, thereby permitting serial rapists—who commit the vast majority of rapes—to continue preying on the vulnerable.

Trying to Move the Elephant in the Living Room: Responding to the Challenge of False Rape Reports

The issue of false reports can be characterized as "the elephant in the middle of the living room" for the field of sexual violence. In this commentary, the author examines how educators respond to this challenge. The author begins by discussing the "2% statistic," which is drawn from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report (UCR) program. Although it has been used in training presentations for more than two decades, it is time to stop. She then describes some alternative strategies for responding to this challenge, drawing from perpetrator narratives, serial cases, and common sense. Finally, she concludes with a wish list for future tools to help address this issue, including further research.

A Stranger in the Bushes, or an Elephant in the Room? Critical Reflections Upon Received Rape Myth Wisdom in the Context of a Mock Jury Study

Commentators, even in contemporary times, have often insisted that the narrowness of public (and thus juror) conceptions of what constitutes sexual assault poses a significant obstacle to securing a conviction in rape cases. Tough empirically flawed, it is asserted that the popular image of "real rape" assumes the existence of–amongst other things–a stranger perpetrator, a public attack location, a use of violence by the assailant, and a show of physical resistance by the victim. Drawing on a mock jury study, in which 216 members of the public observed a mini–rape trial reconstruction and were asked to deliberate within jury groups toward a verdict, this article critically examines participants' subscription to this "real rape" prototype. It explores the extent to which jurors' reluctance to convict may be attributable to a more complex interplay of factors than is reflected in the simplistic charge that they assume an unduly narrow conception of what rape does, or could, look like. In addition, it critically reflects upon participants' perceptions of the prevalence of, and reasons for, women's false rape allegations. Juxtaposing participants' responses to predeliberation

Law and Literature: Story-Telling and Norms in Rousseau's Emile

The Law and Literature movement proposes that legal interpretation can be improved by borrowing methods from literary interpretation, by seeing legal decisions as stories, and by examining literature from a legal perspective. In Emile Rousseau presents us his Bildungsroman and educative novella about a Model Couple, Emile (the hypostasized Rousseau) and Sophie (the wise, sturdy farm girl). Rousseau recounts several stories in Emile, about false rape claims, faithless partners, women who try to be men and fail and in all a series of stories set around the theme of super-responsibility of women to be in the end: baby factories, to make soldiers for the state. Without intending to, Rousseau is comedic in presenting images of women that by today's standards are pathetically laughable. And yet these images of women influenced legislation and judgements because narrative gives scripts and roles to people to recreate in real life. Only by consciously exposing and deconstructing these roles and scripts would it be possible to live out something other than these prescripted, artificial and limiting roles.

Rape myth in true and false rape allegations

Police records of 38 rape allegations, evenly split into maintained-as-true and withdrawn-as-false categories were compared with 19 generated-false statements from recruited participants. The Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMAS) was used to assess the attitudes of the participants and a content analysis derived from IRMAS was used to compare the three categories of allegation. Rape myths were present in all three allegation types. The two categories of false allegation both contained more rape myths than the true allegations but no differences were found between the generated and withdrawn false allegations. High scorers in IRMAS also produced more violent false accounts. In addition to these findings, this study provides support for the further examination of rape myths in both false and true statements and use of generated allegations as proxies for real false statements.

Any Four Black Men Will Do

This study examines the impact of false rape charges a former Iowa State University student brought against four Black males. Using textual analysis coupled with Barthes's theory of myth, the authors critically examine how the story took hold and the communicative impact of the falsified claims of rape that affected African American men, rape survivors, and women. Using previous scholarship on rape and race (macrocontext), the authors test the scholarly conclusions on the myth of rape and race in a microcontext case study. Thus, they are interested in how the false accusation revived the myth and how Iowa State University and the local community, the regional media, and the campus police perpetuated the myth. The authors argue that racism and sexism are allowed to continue in this situation because of the preservation of White hegemonic patriarchal power. This preservation of White patriarchal hegemony is echoed in macrocontext-level conclusions.

Rape as genocide: some questions arising

One of the most significant developments in the jurisprudence of modern international criminal law is the determination of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), in the Akayesu case...

Legislating against Sexual Violence in Kenya: An Interview with the Hon. Njoki Ndungu

Sexual violence is rampant in Kenya and the law was not adequately dealing with it. This is an interview by the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) with the Hon. Njoki Ndungu, a Member of the Kenyan Parliament. It is about the history of the development and passage of the Sexual Offences Act, which came into law in Kenya in July 2006. The law contains 14 offences; it has created minimum sentences and criminalised sexual harassment. The media and radio stations had a big role in getting everyone talking about the issues, and support was widespread. Women's organisations and women's rights advocates played an important role, including lobbying members of Parliament, but there were some disagreements about tactics, such as whether demonstrations to support the bill were a good idea or not. The opposition claimed the bill would encourage women to make false rape allegations. As a way to discredit it, they also falsely claimed that it would legalise same-sex relations and abortion. Work is now in progress on a curriculum for training the police, public administration and judiciary on the new Act and its application, as well as a public awareness programme aimed at encouraging people to report incidents of sexual violence.

FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF RAPE

THERE can be little doubt that the spectre of false rape allegations has significantly influenced the development of legal doctrine and its enforcement. The fear of false allegations has been used to justify evidential rules in cases involving sexual offences such as the corroboration warning, the retention of the marital rape immunity and continues to influence police and prosecutorial decision-making.

`Cry Wolf', Cried the Wolf: Constructing the Issue of False Rape Allegations in New Zealand Media Texts

In this article we analyse New Zealand media texts about so-called false rape allegations from 1995 to 1999, in relation to legislative and social change towards rape. In particular, we focus on a critical reading of a magazine article that stands out as being (the only) relatively balanced investigation into false rape'. We argue that despite the surface neutrality of this text, it privileges an interpretation of the issue in which it is taken for granted that reports of rape claimed to be false by police really are false (that is, women's lies). We show how this happens through the framing of the article, the tacit construction of `the issue' and the denial of the broader social and historical context of rape. In these ways, we argue that it perpetuates contemporary rape myths. Widespread circulation and adherence to such myths, we suggest, hinder the criminal justice system and broader cultural responses to rape that are sympathetic to women who are raped. We further suggest that this construction of the `new issue' of false rape allegations can be read as an expression of `backlash anxiety' about the emergent gains made by feminists in challenging rape-supportive discourses and practices in society.

False Rape

A 16-year-old girl was admitted to the emergency department for sexual assault. The forensic examination revealed genital lesions of an age that were incompatible with her statements. She also presented extragenital lesions that resembled self-inflicted lesions. The reports of false rape allegations in the literature have all dealt with the motivations of the false victims. This case report is a reminder that an allegation of rape can be considered only on the basis of proof and not on speculation.

False rape allegations

With the cooperation of the police agency of a small metropolitan community, 45 consecutive, disposed, false rape allegations covering a 9 year period were studied. These false rape allegations constitute 41% the total forcible rape cases (n = 109) reported during this period. These false allegations appear to serve three major functions for the complainants: providing an alibi, seeking revenge, and obtaining sympathy and attention. False rape allegations are not the consequence of a gender-linked aberration, as frequently claimed, but reflect impulsive and desperate efforts to cope with personal and social stress situations.

Police officers' definitions of rape: A prototype study

AbstractThe study investigates police officers' definitions of different rape situations. On the basis of the concept of ‘cognitive prototypes’ a methodology is developed which elicits consensual feature lists describing six rape situations: the typical, i.e. most common rape, the credible, dubious, and false rape complaints as well as the rape experiences that are particularly hard vs. relatively easy for the victim to cope with. Qualitative analysis of the data allows the identification of the characteristic features defining the prototype of each rape situation, as well as comparisons between the situations in terms of their common and distinctive features. It is shown that police officers, while sharing some of the widely held stereotypes about rape, generally perceive rape as a serious crime with long‐term negative consequences for the victim. The quantitative analysis of prototype similarity between the six situations corroborates this conclusion by demonstrating a high similarity between the prototypes of the typical and the credible rape situation. In addition, subjects' general attitude towards rape victims is measured to compare the prototypes provided by respondents holding a positive vs. negative attitude towards rape victims. Findings for the two groups, however, reveal more similarities than differences in their descriptions of rape prototypes. The paper concludes with a discussion of the feasibility of the prototype approach presented in this study as a strategy for investigating implicit or common‐sense theories of rape.

An Unusual Case of Pseudo Rape

A case has been reported which adds a new and unusual dimension to false rape allegation and gives a heretofore unknown motive for a woman to claim a bogus rape. A female newspaper reporter entered a hospital, stated falsely that she had been sexually assaulted, allowed herself to be interviewed and then examined by the author, and accepted and took medication, all because she wanted to "find out how a rape victim is treated at the new Rape Center and I was pretending to be a rape victim." Rape center workers must be alert to spurious claims of unprincipled and deceitful women.