Right, I've finally been able to get into Substack via the app, which I seldom use. The website is currently broken and unusable, which is why I appear to be ignoring everyone's comments. I don't know if Paula has been able to get in either - not sure whether she uses the app or the website.
Brilliant piece, oddly reassuring to read those figures in black and white. Pushing the "practically decriminalised" myth doesn't help women at all, but then I tend to find that Feminism is less pro-women and more pro "a particular vision of women as CEO girlbosses liberated from biology unless it suits".
I believe that the biggest issue as it relates to rape, is that it's been weaponized to an extent. There are too many women who have filed false rape claims. Even though real rape is happening, jurors are much less likely to believe the victims. However, when there's a history of rape claims against one individual, then something is done about it. Keep in mind I'm talking about incidents where there's no physical evidence, she said/he said.
It's similar with sexual harassment. That also has become weaponized. People can use false claims for potential gain. This is widely known. And because of that, real harassment is often written off as a false claim. It's only when there's a history of continued harassment that something is done about it.
The fact that a history needs to be historically established, necessarily results in a large number of first time offenses being written off by jurors. And a large number of victims not being believed.
This is compounded by the second offense, because the first case against a rapist was dropped, then a second case again might go in favor of the defendant.
You see where in going with this. Once people learn that they can manipulate public opinion for personal gain, they do it. Not only that, but they do it on both sides.
Interesting. However, I have never seen that statistic being described as ‘of cases that go to court....’ but rather ‘of reported rapes...’ - not saying it doesn’t happen; I am sure it does, but I am also sure that misrepresentation is not the norm. I’m certainly well aware that the problems being proclaimed are with the police and the CPS, not the judiciary or juries.
What is relevant to victims thinking of reporting is, surely, ‘what is the chance that this report will lead to a conviction?’ And if 2% of rapes reported to police lead to a conviction, that is a relevant figure. If that is 1/3 of the rate for other crimes, as you suggest, that is a very disturbing figure, especially as those ‘other crimes’ presumably include the criminal damage, petty theft, and similar offenses where one has to be very optimistic to believe anyone will be accused. Rape is both a more serious crime and one where the alleged perpetrator is far more likely to be identified or identifiable.
I think there is a problem. I don’t know what the answer is, particularly as rape is so often ‘he said she said’ and there is the constant claim that women keep crying rape (really? It’s hard to imagine, given how intrusive questioning of alleged victims can be - is there evidence of this?) but 2% cannot possibly be a reasonable number even where it is correctly used.
I think the world needs to see the psychological effects these movements have on their female adherents. It's so destructive to one's world view and psyche - let alone the rest of society and relationships.
Because I know what I’ve read, and this is something I’ve seen a fair few references to. It would be very odd if it just so happened that the outliers all fell my way....
Tah very much; this was super. Evidence and data succinctly summed. What's not to like? Tah Helen for putting this up. "Evo Psych" and "Gender Studies" don't even get to triage; together in the same person? Not on your Nellie. Ever. This is about the only way this would have gotten my attention. On reading the about page with its' mentions of Atheist+ (Possible typo; is Atheism+ and the crazies of FtB meant?) and GamerGate I must have switched off at least a couple of times in the past; to my evident loss. My attention is definitely gotten now though; my apologies! Thanks to you both again.
I suppose this is a problem with crime stats in general. Reported vs convicted does seem somewhat overly broad as that doesn't establish that a crime has even taken place (a real problem with rape vs say murder, assault, or theft) , but charged vs convicted obviously narrows things down quite a bit to cases where a plea is possible or the state thinks there is enough of a chance of conviction.
I agree it's odd that people promote the Reported vs Convicted stat when that's not the norm in criminology and scares women away from reporting, but unless there is a large portion of reports which are not crimes, I don't think it's unreasonable to use this metric and I would actually prefer it.
Apr 19, 2023·edited Apr 19, 2023Liked by Helen Dale
Good article. You mentioned that career feminists juke the stats and that causes harm to female rape victims. But you fail to mention how carceral feminism also hurts men, by unethically pushing for higher conviction rates they are actually pushing to put more innocent men in prison.
I think it's worth mentioning even though many carceral feminists will see this as a benefit, since according to their doctrine, all men are oppressors and benefit from "rape culture" therefore no man is truly innocent.
Not all feminists believe that but many do. Especially career feminists in positions of power.
Right, I've finally been able to get into Substack via the app, which I seldom use. The website is currently broken and unusable, which is why I appear to be ignoring everyone's comments. I don't know if Paula has been able to get in either - not sure whether she uses the app or the website.
Brilliant piece, oddly reassuring to read those figures in black and white. Pushing the "practically decriminalised" myth doesn't help women at all, but then I tend to find that Feminism is less pro-women and more pro "a particular vision of women as CEO girlbosses liberated from biology unless it suits".
Very interesting.
I believe that the biggest issue as it relates to rape, is that it's been weaponized to an extent. There are too many women who have filed false rape claims. Even though real rape is happening, jurors are much less likely to believe the victims. However, when there's a history of rape claims against one individual, then something is done about it. Keep in mind I'm talking about incidents where there's no physical evidence, she said/he said.
It's similar with sexual harassment. That also has become weaponized. People can use false claims for potential gain. This is widely known. And because of that, real harassment is often written off as a false claim. It's only when there's a history of continued harassment that something is done about it.
The fact that a history needs to be historically established, necessarily results in a large number of first time offenses being written off by jurors. And a large number of victims not being believed.
This is compounded by the second offense, because the first case against a rapist was dropped, then a second case again might go in favor of the defendant.
You see where in going with this. Once people learn that they can manipulate public opinion for personal gain, they do it. Not only that, but they do it on both sides.
Often, the outcome is bad for everyone.
Interesting. However, I have never seen that statistic being described as ‘of cases that go to court....’ but rather ‘of reported rapes...’ - not saying it doesn’t happen; I am sure it does, but I am also sure that misrepresentation is not the norm. I’m certainly well aware that the problems being proclaimed are with the police and the CPS, not the judiciary or juries.
What is relevant to victims thinking of reporting is, surely, ‘what is the chance that this report will lead to a conviction?’ And if 2% of rapes reported to police lead to a conviction, that is a relevant figure. If that is 1/3 of the rate for other crimes, as you suggest, that is a very disturbing figure, especially as those ‘other crimes’ presumably include the criminal damage, petty theft, and similar offenses where one has to be very optimistic to believe anyone will be accused. Rape is both a more serious crime and one where the alleged perpetrator is far more likely to be identified or identifiable.
I think there is a problem. I don’t know what the answer is, particularly as rape is so often ‘he said she said’ and there is the constant claim that women keep crying rape (really? It’s hard to imagine, given how intrusive questioning of alleged victims can be - is there evidence of this?) but 2% cannot possibly be a reasonable number even where it is correctly used.
I think the world needs to see the psychological effects these movements have on their female adherents. It's so destructive to one's world view and psyche - let alone the rest of society and relationships.
Because I know what I’ve read, and this is something I’ve seen a fair few references to. It would be very odd if it just so happened that the outliers all fell my way....
Tah very much; this was super. Evidence and data succinctly summed. What's not to like? Tah Helen for putting this up. "Evo Psych" and "Gender Studies" don't even get to triage; together in the same person? Not on your Nellie. Ever. This is about the only way this would have gotten my attention. On reading the about page with its' mentions of Atheist+ (Possible typo; is Atheism+ and the crazies of FtB meant?) and GamerGate I must have switched off at least a couple of times in the past; to my evident loss. My attention is definitely gotten now though; my apologies! Thanks to you both again.
Would you like to explain that one? Because I am really rather bemused that this should even be contentious.
I suppose this is a problem with crime stats in general. Reported vs convicted does seem somewhat overly broad as that doesn't establish that a crime has even taken place (a real problem with rape vs say murder, assault, or theft) , but charged vs convicted obviously narrows things down quite a bit to cases where a plea is possible or the state thinks there is enough of a chance of conviction.
I agree it's odd that people promote the Reported vs Convicted stat when that's not the norm in criminology and scares women away from reporting, but unless there is a large portion of reports which are not crimes, I don't think it's unreasonable to use this metric and I would actually prefer it.
Good article. You mentioned that career feminists juke the stats and that causes harm to female rape victims. But you fail to mention how carceral feminism also hurts men, by unethically pushing for higher conviction rates they are actually pushing to put more innocent men in prison.
I think it's worth mentioning even though many carceral feminists will see this as a benefit, since according to their doctrine, all men are oppressors and benefit from "rape culture" therefore no man is truly innocent.
Not all feminists believe that but many do. Especially career feminists in positions of power.