Is it normal a man's word is worth less than a woman's word?

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12 Comments

There have been several reports by men where upon accusation of 'rape', they are arrested... sometimes in front of their children & partner and/or parents, sometimes at silly O'clock in the morning, sometimes at work in front of friends and colleagues, etc. And from what I understand, the police don't just say "Sir, can we have a word about an important issue, in private..." they seem to be quite happy to blurt out "I'm arresting you on suspicion of rape.." while others are present... and, like it or lump it, mud sticks.

Now, if I went to the police and made an allegation (whether true or false is yet to be determined) and just stated "OMG, I've been burgled and Joe Blow did it..." Do you think the police would rush out and arrest Joe Blow - purely on my word alone, without a shred of evidence?

I by no means would imply 'most' or 'all' rape claims are false, but what convinces the police so much that they *must* arrest a man on hearsay only?

Wouldn't the police want to see my burgled home first? Take any DNA evidence? Take snapshots of damages done by the forced entry? And so on? Can you imagine, if the police would simply arrest alleged burgulars while lacking any evidence of any form whatsoever, while being able to hold a man in a cell for various lengths of time.

If I filed a false police report - I am guilty of breaking the law... So in a case of 'he said, she said' - why is repeatedly the 'he' who is locked up as if guilty - when in reality, either party could be guilty of breaking the law?

A funny one (well, it's not remotely funny) here, it is old but I use this one to demonstrate the absolute rubbish claims from the police department: http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/local-news/girl-admits-rape-lies-1-1273807

"Nevertheless, it demonstrates how thoroughly we investigate allegations of this nature, so people who report genuine sex assaults should come to us with complete confidence that these matters are taken extremely seriously.

"Our officers investigate every angle of the allegation and we leave no stone unturned until we get to the bottom of exactly what has happened in each and every case.

"Genuine matters are dealt with professionally by experts who are highly-trained to deal with these specialist cases and they will find the evidence they are looking for."

Now... re-read the above and take a moment to contemplate... Read the full article too and read it entirely in context.

What's completely wrong in this picture?

They say they made a thorough investigation...

ok... but...

How come, if it was such a 'thorough' investigation, they couldn't figure out it was lies - until the girl TOLD THEM she had lied.

They have demonstrated that a female's word carries more weight than a man's word - by arresting him and holding him in jail for 14hours without a shred of evidence.

Now credit due, the girl was 'formerly cautioned' (which is no doubt a real lesson to be learned after ruining this guy's life), but it doesn't alter the fact that he was disbelieved while she was assumed to be telling the truth until she told them she had lied.

Clearly, the police did not perform a 'thorough investigation' else they would have *some* evidence to substantiate the (typical) mistreatment of this man.

What has convinced police to determine that a woman's word carries more weight than a man's word? Why does it seem very much that when it is a rape allegation, we must view it as "guilty until proven innocent"?

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44% Normal
Based on 9 votes (4 yes)
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Comments ( 12 )
  • anti-hero
    10 years ago | pl

    Is this a question, or a blog?

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  • Riddler
    10 years ago

    So they were accused of rape and got arrested. So what are you not understanding? When people are accused of a crime they are arrested and taken in for questioning. They are than held in jail until the court date unless of course they post bail and pay a fee. This can be denied if they are a flight risk(They have means of fleeing the country), or if the act is too dangerous for them to be left out in public. Also depending on the severity of the crime they will have a higher or lower bail fund.

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  • hairyfairy
    10 years ago

    Very few rape allegations a false, & the police know this. There`s rarely smoke without fire.

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  • AngelofMercy
    10 years ago

    This not only goes for the male/female but also goes for a young/old allegation. Such as, if a young and old woman have a fight. People tend to side with the poor old lady. But who knows what she did, And She is probally the provoker. Not the provokee. This is unfair as well. Such has been my experience.

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  • dom180
    10 years ago

    Rape is different in nature from other crimes as there is almost never going to be actual proof. Police are happy to arrest suspected rapists because rape is a very serious crime for which the vast, vast majority of accusations are not false. The reason why there are so few *convictions* is because of lack of evidence.

    Rape is a gender neutral thing; both men and women can be raped and both men and women can commit rape. It isn't a case of a man's word having less worth, it's a case of the accused's word having less worth. Rape is a gender neutral concept so don't apply gender biased language to it to try and prove something is sexist.

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    • [Old Memory]
      10 years ago

      To say that the "vast, vast majority of accusations aren't false" is a bit out of the water given that people have debunked the "only 2% of rapes are false allegations" claim and found it didn't originate from any actual information. It may be the case, however we can't run on that idea unless certain.

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      • dom180
        10 years ago

        I'll give you the benefit of the doubt over the 2% thing, but I'd still be extremely surprised if it wasn't a very low number that were false. I'd like to see you link to a reputable source that debunks that statistic though.

        I think it's extremely disingenuous to present this as an issue of "guilty until proven innocent", too. That would be the case if people were convicted without evidence, but there's a wealth of difference between arrest and conviction so it's just not the same.

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    • AngelofMercy
      10 years ago

      It's not likely for many women to rape. For it's not in their Genentic Make up. Most rapes have occurred by men. And most women have lied about being raped. That is where the balance lies.

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      • dom180
        10 years ago

        Rape isn't in men's genetic make up either, as far as I can say.

        I can't speak for the whole of the female community, but I'm pretty sure the percentage of them that have lied about being raped lies somewhere under 50%.

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        • AngelofMercy
          10 years ago

          Yes, but men are more compelled to commit rape. Don't you see it all the time on the news? You would not really know this unless you were a woman yourself, such as I. And know what women are up to. For they can be more manipulating than men.

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  • [Old Memory]
    10 years ago

    Thank you for writing this. I strongly agree.

    Anyone caught lying about such things should be brutally punished. Children included.

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    • [Old Memory]
      10 years ago

      Um.....okay. Apparently some here believe that those who ruin people's lives with false allegations of sexual abuse should NOT be punished. Interesting indeed.

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