I am the daughter of a man who believes that most rape allegations are fabricated. I think part of his belief is good ol’ fashioned fear of being vulnerable to a woman. But his attitude derives in large part from his experiences in the military police more than forty years ago-- experiences that he had never examined from the woman’s perspective, at least not until I got done with him. One of his jobs was to assist in the investigation of crimes on military bases, including rapes.
According to my dad, if a woman on a base claimed to have been raped, the lead investigator, would sit her down for an interview. The lead investigator was my father’s Superior Officer, whom I will refer to as “S.O.” S.O. was an elderly, “courtly” gentleman with a “just folks” sort of manner. S.O. would start off the interview by telling the woman, “You know, we’re here Lula Mae, because we want to get to the bottom of what happened, and it’s important because you’ve alleged a serious crime that should be severely punished if it really happened. But we’re also talking about a young man here with a bright future ahead of him, and you wouldn’t want to see a young man like that punished unjustly, would you Lula Mae?” (When my dad retells this story, he always gives the woman some ridiculously stereotypical, “redneck” sounding name.)
S.O. would then ask “Lula Mae” a series of questions along the lines of: “So you invited Tommy in for a cup of coffee and a piece of pie, huh? And, I’ll bet you really missed your husband at that point, isn’t that right, Lula Mae? I understand that it’s gotta be awfully hard being all on your own when your husband’s off in training. Were you wearing a pretty dress that day, Lula Mae? You probably wanted Tommy to think you looked pretty in that dress, didn’t you? It’s only human, right? You’ve always thought Tommy was a good lookin’ boy, haven’t you? I mean, who could blame you. It’s okay, Lula Mae, but it’s important that you tell me the truth: were you flirting with Tommy?”
Anyway, it goes on and on until whaddya know-- Lula Mae tearfully admits that she had cheated on her husband with Tommy and “cried rape” when she realized what a terrible thing she had done. And I grew up hearing this story repeatedly when I was a little girl and a teenager, and I believed it. I thought, gee, I guess most of these stories are fabricated. How could I deny my father’s experience of having seen so many women recant their allegations of rape? Even when I became a prosecutor, I was prepared to examine the rape cases that crossed my desk with plenty of skepticism because I knew (or so I thought) that most allegations were suspect.
But then I met actual rape victims, including victims who not only provided very credible testimony but whose allegations were corroborated by physical evidence or a confession by the rapist.
Virtually every rape victim I met was tormented by self-accusation regarding what she might have done differently to avert the rape. Thoughts like, “I was complicit because I wanted him to think I was hot . . . I was wrong to flirt so much,” are all too common. (Even though I’ve never been raped, I can relate to those guilt feelings myself -- I’ve certainly beaten myself up for “making” a guy like me. I’ve even felt guilty for just taking pleasure in the fact that a guy I didn’t want to date was attracted to me.) Virtually every rape victim faced censure from her own family and friends for “causing” the situation and potentially “ruining” the man’s life. I’ve seen cases where teenaged victims are viewed by their own mothers as little Lolitas. As one mother said to me, even though she actually didn’t know any of the details about what her daughter was alleging, “You know how these young girls are . . . and how they like to flirt with older men.”
The easiest thing in the world is to talk a rape victim into abandoning her case. Even today, rape victims are typically subject to so much skepticism, that why the hell would anyone want to go through all that. In the story my dad likes to tell, the S.O. made it clear as a bell to “Lula Mae” that: (1) his main concern was the welfare of the “young man,” (2) that he certainly believed she was complicit in what had happened, (3) that he was not going to credit her allegations no matter what, and (4) that she could expect to basically be called a whore if she pursued her case. Why wouldn’t she recant even a truthful allegation?
And I haven’t even described the half of what rape victims often undergo. Many victims with whom I worked faced public disclosures about their most intimate personal lives. In one case, a defendant claimed that his ex-girlfriend had fabricated the rape allegation against him because she blamed him for allowing her to get an abortion. Her abortion therefore became front page news. In another case (also involving an ex-boyfriend-and-girlfriend), the defendant’s attorney tried to introduce into evidence sex toys and pornographic videos that the defendant and the victim had used in their prior consensual relationship. Although there was virtually no chance that the jury would be allowed to see this evidence, which had no relevance whatsoever to the allegations, I still had to sit down with the victim and tell her that the defense attorney, judge, court reporter and I had examined all of these items, had them marked as potential evidence, and that they could potentially be shown to the jury. Oh-- and don’t forget the rape kit exam -- the lovely procedure in which the victim, assuming she reports the crime quickly enough, lies naked on an examination table with her legs in stirrups while a nurse combs through her pubic hair and examines every orifice of her body to collect potential evidence of the rape. And, finally, a crucial part of the process in every rape case is the requirement that every victim systematically recount the rape step-by-step in all of it’s physical details: on videotape for the police in the initial interview and, if there is no plea agreement, again for the prosecutor perhaps several times during witness preparation, and finally on the witness stand in a courtroom. Typical questions I might ask a rape victim might include such things as: “How were your legs positioned when he inserted his penis into you?” Unfortunately, it is often necessary to establish the physical steps of the rape in excruciating detail to show the jury how the rape could have happened.
Now, I’m not saying that we should do away with zealous defense attorneys, rape kit exams, and the grueling process of having to answer numerous questions about one’s rape. Because it is important that we have a system in which accusations of rape (as well as other crimes) are proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
What I am saying is that bringing a rape allegation in criminal court ain’t a bed of roses. It’s not like a woman can simply “cry rape” and bam-- the man’s life is ruined. So the common defense theories that a woman brings the rape allegation because she has been “scorned” (as in “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”) or because she felt guilty about having sex or for some similarly petty reason make no sense. A person would have to be pathologically vindicative to put herself through all this crap just because she’s mad that he didn’t call or some such thing.
Let me make it clear what else I'm not saying: I am not saying there are no false accusations. I am not saying that rape allegations should not be examined carefully and critically before charging or convicting someone. And I do want to reassure people that there are support systems in place for rape victims and a ton of education for investigators and prosecutors such that (I hope) we do not see too many guys like the S.O. in my dad’s story anymore. Despite the bleak picture I have recounted, I pray that as many as victims as possible will pursue their criminal cases. I can't blame anyone who chooses not to make a report to the police: but I am grateful to those brave women who do come forward and go through the process so that others may be protected from their rapist.
My main point, however, despite this rambling is that in light of all the burdens and pressures placed on victims (some an appropriate by-product of the presumption of innocence, some mere cultural prejudice), the notion that women frequently make this stuff up and stick to a false story all the way through trial is a paranoid fantasy. One of my favorite moments was a few years ago, when my dad had retold the story of Lula Mae and the S.O. for the millionth time, and I was able to turn to him and say, "Dad, S.O. was an A__H____ - and here's why."
(I have written previously -- and with more brevity! -- about the issue of he said/she said cases here.)