# Hofstra (Fake) Gang Rape Claims **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 19, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hofstra-fake-gang-rape-claims/510719 "2009-09-19T16:33:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hofstra-fake-gang-rape-claims/510719/81 "2009-09-28T07:39:09Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > In other words, men (of average cautiousness) are now going to have to be as careful about their casual sexual encounters as women (of average cautiousness) have always had to. “Casual”? A woman can lie about being raped if the relationship is long term or if she’s married. If anything I’d expect that casual encounters are safer; a woman who is basically a stranger will be less likely to have a motive. And men won’t be any more careful; this isn’t something new. Men will just ignore the danger as they always have. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hofstra-fake-gang-rape-claims/510719/82 "2009-09-28T08:15:00Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > In other words, men (of average cautiousness) are now going to have to be as careful about their casual sexual encounters as women (of average cautiousness) have always had to. I mean, many guys who are looking to hook up are also crazy and/or evil. > > Yes, I’m sure that there are some men who have been falsely accused AND CONVICTED of rape. I’m also sure that there are many, many more men who have raped, and either not even been accused, or not been convicted. Back when I was younger, and my friends were younger, I knew more than one woman who confided in me that she’d been raped. Many of them didn’t even go to the police, because of the attitudes at the time. Who wanted to go through another violation, this time at the hands of the officials? Many people thought that women who got raped deserved it, somehow. The pendulum is swinging back a little now, that’s all. > > Until we have a foolproof lie detector, until we have some way of viewing the past, then justice will be only an approximation, for some people, and others won’t get any justice at all. But most sane women don’t press false rape charges. I really don’t get it, from the tone of your posts you seem to somehow be condoning false accusations, and putting some of the onus back on men to somehow disprove it. This is swinging way back to far into some form of vengenance or attitude of letting men get what (you think) is coming to them. Rape is horrible. No sane man has ever said otherwise. The false accusation of rape is just as horrible - to day that “men must now be careful” is just as much an evil and nonsensical attitude as “excusing” rape by saying the lady was wearing a short skirt. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hofstra-fake-gang-rape-claims/510719/83 "2009-09-28T10:34:46Z")
No, I’m not condoning false accusations in any way. It’s just that I’ve had a couple of guys attempt to rape me. I have a few friends who have been raped, or nearly raped. These are things that have affected my life. While I HEAR about false rape accusations, nobody in my life has ever experienced it. I believe that it happens, occasionally. But I think that real rape happens far more often. And, when I hear a rape accusation, I’m very likely to believe that it’s real. Sometimes I’m wrong. I believe, however, that there are far more instances of unconvicted rapists that women lying about being raped. Yes, I do think that false accusations of rape are horrible. And I think that if those five guys hadn’t been quite so eager to have an orgy with a complete stranger, then they’d have known that she’s not mentally stable. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hofstra-fake-gang-rape-claims/510719/84 "2009-09-28T10:58:47Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > Aren’t policemen supposed to investigate before locking people up? Not if it’s a rape accusation. Societal pressures have made most police departments err overwhelmingly on the side of the accuser: “Well, she wouldn’t report it if it didn’t happen, right Barney? I mean, gosh–he’s a big strong man and she’s just a itty-bitty tiny little thing.” Then there’s our “fair and balanced” friends in the media who are so full of PC nonsense and their manufactured “honor”: _“It is the policy of the Podunk Press to NEVER report the name of assault victims (if they are female). We are, however, more than happy to publish the name of whoever she has accused even though he has not been proven guilty in a court of law and the “victim” could just be lying through her teeth, quite willing to send an innocent man to prison for decades just because she regrets (after the fact) consenting to fuck him silly.”_ This is a _really bad thing_ given the number of women willing to ruin a man’s life just because they changed their minds about having sex with him after the fact. They say rape is about power, not sex :rolleyes:. But what are false accusations of rape about? Pure Evil? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hofstra-fake-gang-rape-claims/510719/85 "2009-09-28T13:16:30Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Yes, I do think that false accusations of rape are horrible. And I think that if those five guys hadn’t been quite so eager to have an orgy with a complete stranger, then they’d have known that she’s not mentally stable. that is the way casual sex is for people, you go with the flow. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hofstra-fake-gang-rape-claims/510719/86 "2009-09-28T15:19:11Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > But most sane women don’t press false rape charges. By “most,” I presume you mean “if lucky, half or slightly more of women filing rape charges aren’t demonstrable liars.” Because that’s about all the research supports: [http://www.mediaradar.org/research\_on\_false\_rape\_allegations.php#sdendnote5anc](http://www.mediaradar.org/research_on_false_rape_allegations.php#sdendnote5anc) Kanin’s follow-up study showed that 50% of the university rape allegations he examined were false. ETA: What about the non-insubstantial proportion of non-sane women (who aren’t immediately identifiable in every case)? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hofstra-fake-gang-rape-claims/510719/87 "2009-09-28T16:06:13Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Not if it’s a rape accusation. Societal pressures have made most police departments err overwhelmingly on the side of the accuser: “Well, she wouldn’t report it if it didn’t happen, right Barney? I mean, gosh–he’s a big strong man and she’s just a itty-bitty tiny little thing.” I’m guessing you’ve never gone to the cops after being sexually assaulted or helped a friend do so? There are plenty of roadblocks in their way, and cops who want them to rethink their accusation are just one of them. Sometimes I think you’d _have_ to go through the hell of the system. Two wrongs do not make a right. Like **Lynn Bodoni** I know many women who have been raped but never went to the police (often because they got a taste of what filing charges and going through a trial would be like after telling people about the experience) but no one who has accused someone of rape and later turned out to be lying and no one who has been accused of rape. But again, there is no karmic justice in having innocent guys accused of rape just because the justice system is often next to useless when it comes to preventing and prosecuting rape. Though I do agree that the fear of false accusations may make some men think twice about being alone with women they don’t know very well, especially while intoxicated – something women have had to worry about, well, forever. I suppose the obvious difference is that he may have his life ruined by a false accusation, and she may have her life ruined by being raped. Nobody wins. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hofstra-fake-gang-rape-claims/510719/88 "2009-09-29T07:53:08Z")
If the girl was too scared to say no, and the guys too enthusiastic to bother with consent forms and lots of assurances, its entirely possible that she was raped by 5 guys who did not rape her. I’m glad I’m not in college anymore. Or young. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hofstra-fake-gang-rape-claims/510719/89 "2009-09-29T13:34:33Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > While I HEAR about false rape accusations, nobody in my life has ever experienced it. Most guys are probably reluctant to go about confiding in people that they’ve been accused of rape, so it’s not like you would expect to hear about it. In addition, when people talk about rape accusations that “turned out to be false” they generally mean that were proved to be false. The vast majority of false accusations probably remain in the realm of he-said-she-said and are unproven either way. And especially considering the reluctance some people seem to have in abandoning the rape version, it’s hardly surprising that they don’t encounter more false accusations - they simply continue to believe all the accusations are true, making their opinion a self-fulfilling one. > [@](#): > > And I think that if those five guys hadn’t been quite so eager to have an orgy with a complete stranger, then they’d have known that she’s not mentally stable. And I think if that girl hadn’t gone out dressed like a skank she would not have been raped. Oh wait - that would be blaming the victim! I retract that. Now back to the guys who let themselves get falsely accused … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hofstra-fake-gang-rape-claims/510719.md?page=4)