Self-Defense & Violence Prevention Blog

by Scott Hughes

I have written quite a few published articles on self-defense and violence prevention. (See: Self-Defense: End Victimization and Women’s Safety: Tools For A Self-Defense Strategy.) Most adamantly, I have condemned rape and sexual assault. Not only have I condemned the sexual assailants themselves, but also I expressed my sickening disgust with us, the people of society, for not doing more to prevent sexual victimization.

Indeed, we similarly need to prevent all victimization, but I see sexual victimization as generally the most disgusting and horrific type of victimization.

Nonetheless, we need to realize and respect how easily a false accusation can indirectly victimize a non-victimizer.

We all already know this. For example, we know that a false accusation from a women about sexual crimes can essentially destroy a man’s life, and we know this happens often. We know the power of unfounded rumors, and false accusations are worse than rumors.

I think it’s possible that a false accusation can be worse than sexual victimization. For example, I think it’s possible that it could be worse to be accused of sexual assault than to be assaulted.

I think a lot of people, men especially, fear activism against sexual victimization for that reason, and rightfully so. People, women especially, fear sexual victimization. Also though, people, men especially, fear false accusations of sexual victimization.

Rape is a terrible thing, but so are false accusations. Both of those problems plague our society.

A false accusation of such magnitude as rape can turn an otherwise stable life upside down.

The point is that people, men especially, rightfully fear being falsely accused of sexual victimization.

That rightful fear hinders the active fight against sexual victimization. Our society is plagued by preventable victimization. We have the resources to prevent these terrible victimizations, including not only rape and sexual assault, but also murder, theft, and such. There’s an assortment of reasons why the people of society fail to prevent these disgusting crimes. These reasons do include simply laziness and distractedness, among many other causes. Nonetheless, activists oven overlook the major hindrance caused by the justified fear of false accusations.

When activists, who actively oppose sexual victimization, try to recruit the help and cooperation of others and society as a whole, these activists often fail to understand the hesitance of others and society. The rightful fear of false accusations motivates this hesitation.

We all want to prevent victimization, whether in the form of false accusations or sexual assault, or any other form of victimization. We need to recruit others to this cause and create empowered organizations based on voluntary solidarity to defend ourselves from victimization and rectify past victimizations (such as suing or fining a vandal for the cost of the damages the vandal caused).

Thus, we need to work in a way that protects people from both false accusations and sexual victimization. For example, we must respect the burden of proof and treat an accused sexual criminal as innocent until proven guilty. We must do that not simply for the sake of the accused person, buy also for the sake of victims and potential victims of sexual crimes, because if we make enemies of our peers by treating accused victimizers as guilty, thus making innocent people who may potentially be falsely accused one day fearful, then we will bicker and battle with each other, creating stagnation in our activism, and thus allowing sexual crime and false accusations to still reign. In contrast, if we treat people as both socially and legally innocent until proven guilty, then we can work together to prevent victimization and imprison proven victimizers.

In the same way we need to jail sexual victimizers or otherwise hold them criminally liable, we must also try to prevent the damage of false accusations by jailing false accusers or otherwise holding them criminally liable, but, still similarly, only if their accusations are proven false. Even if we suspect someone has made a false accusation, we must treat them innocent until proven guilty for the same reason we must treat someone who has allegedly committed assault as innocent until proven guilty.

If we go to war with each other without proof and don’t treat people as innocent until proven guilty, then we will waste our resources and effort while sexual victimization and false accusations still plague our society. In contrast, we need to work together to come up with solutions that both prevent sexual victimization and the damages caused by false accusations.

For the most part, the problem isn’t legal. In most modern jurisdictions, rape and sexual assault are already illegal. Similarly, in most modern jurisdictions, filing false police reports and perjury are already illegal. Legally speaking, the main obstacles are the lack of enforcement of current laws and the threat of not upholding the innocent until proven guilty standard.

For the most part, the problem is social. It’s private activists and non-governmental organizations who fail to work in such a way that prevents both sexual victimization and false accusations. It’s socially that we treat people as if they’re guilty before they’ve been proven so.

Additionally, once the victimization has taken place–whether it’s a sex crime or a false accusation–the damage has already been done. Granted, we need to jail victimizers–both false accusers and sexual criminals–to prevent them from continuing their victimizing behavior, and we need to rehabilitate them. Only the use of prevention can stop the problem. To stop the problem, we must keep potential victims out of dangerous situations and reduce the threat of victimization. Sure we need to utilize physical self-defense and the legal system, but once a person is attacked we’ve essentially already failed.

The onus is on activists, non-governmental organizations, and private individuals. Let’s work together to prevent victimization, and namely put an end to false accusations and sexual crime.

About The Author: Scott Hughes runs this blog.