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Complex Numbers #491047 added February 27, 2007 at 7:57pm
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Disturbed
Nothing like a good old-fashioned pissedoffedness to break me out of my blue funk.
http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=6135202
Simonton told police that she had been pistol wipped and raped with a screwdriver by a Hispanic man after she picked him up on the side of the road carrying a baby. She later confessed to authorities that her facial injuries were self-inflicted and that she had made the entire story up.
I'm reading this and I'm thinking, yeah, this kind of thing is fucked up, and unfortunately it happens from time to time, and yeah, I'd say she's mentally disturbed.
Then I got to the last paragraph.
One study from Purdue University found in over 40% of the rape cases they studied, the so-called 'victim' in those cases, like Simonton's, eventually admitted that no rape had occurred.
What?
"Over 40%?"
Leaving aside for the moment the questionable value of a single survey statistic stuck in as a throwaway at the end of a news story, I still have to consider this pretty damn disturbing.
Back in the Stone Age (my first marriage), I was sitting watching TV with my then-wife and this PSA came on. One of those that consists of a single, disturbed, worried and slightly haggard-looking woman, speaking as the camera zooms slowly in on her face. "Every fifteen seconds in this country," she said in all seriousness, "a woman is raped."
"Boy," I said, "she must be pretty sore."
I nearly became a statistic, myself. I'm pretty sure my ex-wife would have killed me if I hadn't outweighed her.
Point is, women don't find rape funny. I don't blame them. For some reason, though, both men and women find male-on-male rape pretty damn amusing. "Boy, you look just like a hog!"
As under-reported as rape is supposed to be, male-victim rape is probably even more underreported. "Uh. Yeah. I was walking down the street and this guy grabbed me and shoved his cock up my ass..."
"Sir, what were you wearing?"
Yeah, like I said: not funny.
I have to wonder about the fifteen second statistic, too. Math time. There are 24*60*60/15 = 5760 fifteen-second intervals in a day, which means according to the very serious woman on the PSA, about 5800 women get raped a day (assuming none of them are gang-bangs). That's 5760*365= about 2.1 MILLION women per year.
Okay, now I'll admit I'm in over my head. That's a lot of assaults, even if you can accept that over 40% of them are false reports. So let me get back to my original point.
Couple years back, a local man was charged with rape based on a woman's testimony. As I recall this case, there was no controversy over whether the woman was actually raped or not; her situation and story were consistent with violent sexual assault. In keeping with the privacy customs of our country, the woman's name was withheld from the press, while the man's name was widely reported.
Well, it turned out that she'd picked the wrong black male out of a lineup. I guess they all looked alike to her or something. In any event, this guy had to endure, at a minimum, massive legal expenses, and probably a whole load of underreported social expenses. Imagine how people would react to you after your name is plastered all over the papers in connection with a violent sexual assault - as the perpetrator. Especially in the southern U.S. if you're African-American.
Well, he was cleared, and he sued the chick, and the media had a freaking field day. "It should be illegal," was the consensus of certain groups, "to sue a person for damages after a false accusation of rape! Rape is underreported as it is, and it would have a chilling effect on women coming forward and reporting it!" No mention of the "rights" of the falsely accused to clear his name, or the chilling effect lawsuits would have on false accusations. After all, he's only a man, and if he didn't commit this rape, obviously he committed another one. How else do you explain 2 million rapes a year?
Do I have an easy answer? Of course not. I'm just ranting.
I'm going to stop now. I have a deadline and need to go back to work. But I'll leave you with this little gem:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070225/ap_on_hi_te/smart_surveillance |
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