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Why I am not watching “I Am Not A Rapist"
As someone who works in sexual violence prevention, I spend a lot of time discussing false accusations. TV shows and documentaries focusing on the prevalence of alleged false accusations make my job increasingly difficult. They suggest that false accusations of sexual violence are commonplace and reinforce the culture of blame and suspicion towards those who speak up about sexual violence.
Read time 1-2min
We learn a lot about the world from the media we consume. From TikTok to PornHub to Netflix, all media shapes our understandings of sex, relationships and sexual violence. But is the media truly representative of these issues?
The media has a long history of over-representing how common false accusations are. In a piece of research by campaign group The Representation Project it was found that 25% of on-screen rapes are depicted as false accusations*. Documentaries such as this feed into the narrative that false accusations are common, and that people make allegations of rape out of spite, for money, or for attention.
The reality is false accusations of rape are extremely rare. The rate of ‘false allegations’ made for rape stands at around 3% - this is no higher than for any other crime.
There is something much more common than false accusations: rape and sexual assault.
An estimated 1 in 4 women, 1 in 6 children and 1 in 16 men have been sexually assaulted or raped. These statistics only represent those who have come forward and had their experienced recorded. The prevalence is likely to be much higher.
Only 51% of rape and attempted rape trials result in a conviction, compared to a 91% overall conviction rate. In 2020-21 there were 2,176 rapes and attempted rapes reported to the police, but only 152 prosecutions and just 78 convictions.
Men and boys are estimated to be 230 times more likely to be raped than to be falsely accused of rape.
The only thing I am not a rapist gets right is that we do have a broken justice system, there is a problem about the way we handle allegations of rape or sexual assault. However, it fundamentally misjudges what the problem is. The real problem is that rape and sexual violence happen, they ruin people’s lives, and perpetrators get away with it all the time.
Sources:
Rape, sexual assault and child sexual abuse statistics | Rape Crisis England & Wales
FactCheck: Men are more likely to be raped than be falsely accused of rape – Channel 4 News
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