# What's worse: being raped or being falsely accused of rape? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 26, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666 "2015-02-26T15:46:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/81 "2015-03-02T14:52:43Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Dice that are actually in your favour - so it’s _definitely_ get raped, or a [1 in 20](http://www.nij.gov/topics/corrections/institutional/prison-rape/pages/welcome.aspx)chance of being raped at all (in America, I must emphasize this :rolleyes:) And that’s not considering the probability of conviction or even going to trial from the accusation. > > Versus (and I emphasize this again) the _definite_ rape on the one side. Where on the page you cited does it say 1 in 20? ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/82 "2015-03-02T15:06:45Z")
Are you fucking serious?? Being raped. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/83 "2015-03-02T15:18:51Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > Where on the page you cited does it say 1 in 20? 4% is roughly 1-in-20. Granted, that’s per year, but if no-one’s taken a shine to you in that first year… ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/84 "2015-03-02T15:40:49Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > 4% is roughly 1-in-20. Granted, that’s per year, but if no-one’s taken a shine to you in that first year… No, it’s exactly 1 in 25. 5% is 1 in 20. Not to mention that some prisoners are more likely to get raped than others and rapists are more likely to be housed with other violent offenders. Your cite makes no distinction, nor does it distinguish between male and female prisoners, so I’m not sure this number is meaningful for calculating one’s own odds of getting raped while incarcerated. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/85 "2015-03-02T20:43:34Z")
It’s the best latest numbers. And I doubt prisoners give a shit if someone was a rapist (unless they were a paedophile, from what I hear) ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/86 "2015-03-02T20:59:03Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > It’s the best latest numbers. > > And I doubt prisoners give a shit if someone was a rapist (unless they were a paedophile, from what I hear) I don’t care how recent your stats are, 4% is 1 in 25, not 1 in 20. And rapists are more likely to get raped by fellow prisoners than the average incarcerated person for reasons beyond whether anyone “cares” whether they are rapists. They are more likely to be housed with other violent offenders than the average inmate who may or may not be there on violence-related charges. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/87 "2015-03-02T22:14:15Z")
Worst case scenario for rape victims? Catching HIV and/or several other nasty STDs (While it’s a long shot, genital warts can lead to cervical cancer). Pregnancy, various physical trauma depending on how violent it was. And usually women are raped by people they know – imagine the trust issues. I thought those who were more likely to be harmed were usually put into protective custody (like with child molestors\*, for example?) \*Before it gets brought up, anyone who thinks that being accused of child molestation is better than being molested needs to have their head examined. SERIOUSLY. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2015, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/88 "2015-03-02T23:17:24Z")
In rape the physical act can be over quickly, and then the person may seek a healing caring environment, one falsely accuse of rape suffers the physical effects far longer if convicted. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/89 "2015-03-03T04:06:29Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > Which is why reporting a rape often turns out to be a huge mistake. > A person tries to do the right thing and keep a rapist off the street by reporting, but as thanks, police and society make sure that the rape was just the beginning of her suffering, punishing her at every turn. > > The falsely-accused rapist has no option to just shut up and go on with their life. The rape victim absolutely should not have to choose this option to avoid a lifetime of torment from outside forces, but reality is what it is, and I’d prefer to have the choice than to have the more-damaging one picked for me. The problem I have with this discussion - I don’t know of any “Western” liberal democracy where the idea of “she asked for it”, that rape can be “justified” by previous sexual behaviour or any of the other nasty oppressive ideas are still officially accepted and propagated. The reverse seems to be true in that institutions like police, courts, victim support etc take great pains to ensure that such ideas are repressed - Sure, we’re not perfect yet, and within some circles of society there are still such mores / memes. I don’t personally know of anybody that would say to a rape victim “It was your fault”. I do know people that might tell her “you could have been more careful, but ultimately he is still the one to blame”. I do, however, know plenty of people that will ostracise someone on the basis of a rape accusation - and do so without a shred of conscience or remorse. I know plenty of people that, even were the accused to be found innocent (as opposed to not guilty) will STILL call him a rapist, and simply say it was a perversion of justice, or that he lied, or that he got off. And that is the problem with rape accusations - even the simple accusation, even if charges are never brought, is enough to get a guy fired, it is enough to see him ostracised, to see him persecuted whether or not there is any truth to the accusation. And in most such cases - the guy has no recourse. Generally speaking - it is ok to fire someone, to transfer them, to divorce them or to remove them from their coaching position upon the mere accusation of sexual predatory behaviour - much more so than it is for any other offence I know of. And for this - I believe a (knowingly) false accusation is worse than an actual rape. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/90 "2015-03-03T05:17:00Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > I don’t care how recent your stats are, 4% is 1 in 25, not 1 in 20. Jesus, do you understand the English meaning of the word “roughly”? And 1-in-25 vesus 1-in-20 _favours_ my argument. > [@](#): > > They are more likely to be housed with other violent offenders than the average inmate who may or may not be there on violence-related charges. Then quote the stats for more violent prisons. And if they’re _not_ “nearly every rapist put in prison gets raped, multiple times”, then my argument stands - people are comparing actual rape to hypothetical rape. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/91 "2015-03-03T05:18:16Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Worst case scenario for rape victims? Death. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/92 "2015-03-03T05:23:10Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > I don’t personally know of anybody that would say to a rape victim “It was your fault”. Then you only know nice people. There are plenty of people who would say exactly that. > [@](#): > > I do know people that might tell her “you could have been more careful, but ultimately he is still the one to blame”. How is this anything other than “It was his fault, but you know, it was kind of your fault too”? The thing that gets me about this whole discussion is that, despite the grim picture of years of violent jailhouse rape being the fate of the rape accused, I’m actually certain that the most common response to rape accusation will be a shrug and a “bitches be crazy, bro”. Unless someone has _concrete numbers_ that say otherwise, I will continue to doubt that most rape accusations move beyond just the accusation. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/93 "2015-03-03T12:58:37Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Jesus, do you understand the English meaning of the word “roughly”? And 1-in-25 vesus 1-in-20 _favours_ my argument. Then quote the stats for more violent prisons. And if they’re _not_ “nearly every rapist put in prison gets raped, multiple times”, then my argument stands - people are comparing actual rape to hypothetical rape. I’m only arguing against your bad math and logic, plus you didn’t say “roughly” in your initial cite. The accused rapist ending up getting raped in prison is not what makes being falsely accused worse than being raped and just turns the comparison into the nonsensical question “would you rather be raped just once or possibly raped many times?” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/94 "2015-03-03T14:15:18Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > I’m only arguing against your bad math and logic Hey, I cited a figure, but like I said, the actual figure is irrelevant to the _il_logic behind comparing an actual event to a probable one - especially one with low overall probability. > [@](#): > > , plus you didn’t say “roughly” in your initial cite. Nope, you’re right - didn’t think I had to - the 1-in-x form isn’t common in hard stats circles.:rolleyes: > [@](#): > > The accused rapist ending up getting raped in prison is not what makes being falsely accused worse than being raped But it’s the one that sure seems to fascinate a lot of people… > [@](#): > > and just turns the comparison into the nonsensical question “would you rather be raped just once or possibly raped many times?” It’s not a nonsensical question. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/95 "2015-03-03T14:57:58Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Hey, I cited a figure, but like I said, the actual figure is irrelevant to the _il_logic behind comparing an actual event to a probable one - especially one with low overall probability.Nope, you’re right - didn’t think I had to - the 1-in-x form isn’t common in hard stats circles.:rolleyes: But it’s the one that sure seems to fascinate a lot of people…It’s not a nonsensical question. Hard stats circles? The odds of you getting derisively chuckled out of the actuary bar calling 4% “1-in-20” are 1-in-1, or “about 100%.” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/96 "2015-03-04T05:54:02Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > Hard stats circles? The odds of you getting derisively chuckled out of the actuary bar calling 4% “1-in-20” are 1-in-1, or “about 100%.” That’s hardly the point - I wouldn’t _be_ saying “1-in-20” in that context, I’d say “4%”. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/97 "2015-03-04T07:10:44Z")
I think it depends for a man, on his age. If your a young man of say 24 who has a reputation of a big sex drive then an accusation will hit you like a ton of bricks and seriously mess up your life. If your an older man of 50 who’s married with a good reputation then such an accusation will be harder to stick. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/98 "2015-03-04T11:29:31Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > That’s hardly the point - I wouldn’t _be_ saying “1-in-20” in that context, I’d say “4%”. So you’ve dumbed it down for the rest of us by making it look like you don’t understand percents? How thoughtful. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/99 "2015-03-05T12:46:36Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > So you’ve dumbed it down for the rest of us by making it look like you don’t understand percents? How thoughtful. That’s me, always thinking of others… ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666/100 "2015-03-05T13:41:00Z")
Wish the posts showed the gender breakdown. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-worse-being-raped-or-being-falsely-accused-of-rape/713666.md?page=6)