TheOneX wrote:Speaker to Animals wrote:They cannot. A woman needs to get to a rape kit to collect physical evidence. It sucks, but I'd rather not live in a society where I can be imprisoned for years based on the false testimony of a woman.
This is something that needs to be taught from a somewhat young age. If you are raped you will be traumatized, but you need to keep enough wits about you to go to the police immediately. It will be tough in the moment, but it will be a good thing in the long run. If your friend is raped you need to be there for them, and encourage them to report it immediately. When a friend of an ex was raped I asked about pressing charges, and my ex mostly dismissed it. I was completely baffled by her response.
I find how women to treat rape to be very mixed signal. A large portion treat it as hugely important, while others make a mockery of it falsely accusing men of rape claiming everything is rape culture, and then you have a large portion who just want to downplay/ignore it when it happens to themselves or someone they know. I understand why a woman would want to not be public about it, but I don't understand not wanting to pursue justice.
It is very traumatic and the victim often has a hard time just telling anyone. Plus it is not just them.
Part of it is cultural I think. As in don't report even as an 80 year old habit wearing nun in seclusion because you will be blamed for it. Or 12 in school. And in some places that's true.
Part of it is who, what, and wear. If it's a stranger who broke into your home, get him. If it's at some party, again people are likely to blame you even if you were stone cold sober, and it was an ice cream social. If was a little more raucous, again even more blame.
If you don't resist, that's a problem even if it is Mongo the Mongol at 6'6" and 350lbs with you at 5 nothing and 120lbs. You are supposed to always resist at least to many. If it's a loved one. or worse family, it's both extra traumatic, and you might still love that...person.
Add that that sharp objects like knives, shoes, boots, fists and other things are used often, which can make it even more traumatic and difficult to handle. As in can you give a statement with a broken jaw, etc.
In addition, the police and the medical system at that location also has a lot to do with it. Some hospitals are very observant, and supportive of a victim and will make the effort to encourage them to make a rape kit and the police. Who hopefully are not macho asses, but professionals. Also the DA has to want to prosecute, and finally the kits are sometimes not processed, because at whatever level ( city, county, or state) will not process them. Sometimes they just don't want to spend the money. That last be has been known to go for years in a few places.
So even if a woman wants to prosecute, and has the ability to go to a hospital, and gets a rape kit done. All the other pieces have to all work too. And everything I just said also applies to men and children to some degree.