by Leah Massingham
“But think about what this could do to his reputation”. After all, no one wants a sexual predator to not have the life and career that they are capable of. We have to compartmentalise these things, that guy could have gone on to be President of the States one day if it weren’t for this.
Oh wait.
He did anyway.
The #metoo movement of 2017 created a shift in how society saw sexual assault. For many women it removed their shackles of fear and empowered them to speak their truth. It dismantled a social norm that was accepted for years and started acknowledging sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviours for what they were.
Pretty much exactly a year later, a similar movement started to circulate on the same platforms that #metoo had dominated. Powerful, privileged, and mostly white, men started to use the platform to dismantle their own ‘oppression’ and ‘victimhood’ that had come from, what they claimed to be, false accusations of sexual harassment and assault from women. Almost all of them claim these allegations ‘ruined their life’.
And so the ‘false allegations’ stick was picked up, and they haven’t stopped beating women with it ever since.
Since the 1970s, at least 26 women have publicly accused Donald Trump, the 45th President and the current President-elect of the United States, of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment, including non-consensual kissing or groping. He has denied all of the charges.
In October 2016, a 2005 recording surfaced that contained Trump bragging about kissing and groping women without their consent. He is heard saying that "when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. ... Grab 'em by the pussy.”
Despite this recording, he went on to be elected as the 45th President of the United States, beating Hillary Clinton by 74 electoral votes.
Although Clinton received almost 2.9 million more votes than him. In fact, more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than any other losing presidential candidate in US history.
On June 21, 2019, E. Jean Carroll, an American journalist, published an article in New York magazine titled “Hideous Men”. In this article she stated that Donald Trump had sexually assaulted her in late 1995 or early 1996 in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City.
In November 2019, Carroll filed a lawsuit in New York against Trump.
She stated: “Decades ago, the now President of the United States raped me. When I had the courage to speak out about the attack, he defamed my character, accused me of lying for personal gain, even insulted my appearance. No woman should have to face this.
She went on to add: “No person in this country should be above the law — including the president.”
On May 9, 2023, a New York jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation against E. Jean Carroll, but not liable for rape.
Therefore, by the time the 2024 Presidential election came around, Trump had been: accused of sexual assault; heard bragging about the sexual assaults he had committed; and found liable for sexual abuse.
Yet he still won. By over 3 million votes.
The idea that false rape allegations are destroying thousands of men’s lives each year is just false. And it isn’t just in American politics that sexual abusers are getting off scot free.
Former Conservative MP for Delyn, Robert Roberts, was accused of sexual harassment by a junior member of staff in July 2020. An independent investigation found that he had sexually harassed the junior member of staff, but he was allowed to rejoin the party anyway.
In 2018, former Conservative MP for Burton, Andrew Griffiths, was accused by the Sunday Mirror of sending 2000 explicit images in a 3 week period to 2 of his female constituents. In response to this, he resigned from his ministerial position and he was suspended by the Conservative Party.
On 12 December 2018, Griffiths was reinstated to the Conservative Party. On 8 September 2019, Griffiths was cleared of breaching the House of Commons' code of conduct by the parliamentary standards watchdog as it could not find any evidence that he sent messages while carrying out parliamentary activities.
In December 2021, it was revealed that a Family Court judge had ruled that Griffiths had repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted his then wife.
Ok, maybe allegations don’t damage powerful prominent men, but they do affect average everyday men, right?
Wrong.
As of 2021, in the UK, only 2% of reported rapes resulted in convictions. A lot of people have heard this statistic and incorrectly assume that that means 98% of alleged rapists are found not guilty in a court. That is not the case.
In fact, in 2023, 61.1% of rape cases that went to trial resulted in conviction. The true problem is only 3.2% of allegations make it to trial.
Majority of rape allegations are thrown out by the Crown Prosectution Service (CPS) before they go to trial. This happens when the CPS decides there is not enough evidence to prosecute in court.
In England and Wales, defendants accused of any crime can only be identified by the press at the point of arrest. The police can only arrest a person if there are reasonable grounds to suspect them of a crime.
Moreover, the press cannot identify alleged victims sexual assault as, under the Sexual Offences Amendment Act (1992), they are granted lifelong anonymity. This includes reporting anything that could lead to their identification which can sometimes impact the reporting of a defendant too.
For example, if a man is accused of rape by his girlfriend, the press reporting that would lead to the identification of the victim. With 1 in 2 rapes against women being carried out by a partner or ex-partner, this restriction comes into it more than you’d think.
These two factors mean that often accused sexual assaulters are not even publicly identified, let alone tarnished for life with accusations. And these are only the stats for rape - the numbers get even more horrific when we include sexual harassment and sexual assaults.
Tarnished reputations from false allegations do happen, which is wrong, but it is very rare. It does not happen enough to justify immediately doubting women, because more often than not she is telling the truth.
From the second that a woman is assaulted, her life is changed forever. She will carry a burden for the rest of her life, and nothing will ever really heal it. People say sexual assault allegations ruin a man’s life but what they should actually say is “sexual assault allegations should ruin a man’s life, but they don’t.”