by Melissa Washington

Created on: September 19, 2011

Rape is the only crime where the victim receives a lot of skepticism from the beginning. The burden of proof is often on the woman to prove that the rape happened and if it is proved that sexual intercourse did occur, the woman has to prove that it wasn’t consensual. Especially in a date rape situation, a woman will be questioned about how she knows the accused rapists, whether or not they had sex before, and what she was doing with him before the alleged rape occurred. Oftentimes she is asked about her clothing and whether or not she had been drinking. The victim’s sexual history is even brought up in many cases as if these things affect whether or not a person can be raped.

If a person is waiting at a bus stop and is robbed of his wallet and loses $400, no one berates the victim and says that he shouldn’t have been carrying around so much money. If a person’s Ferrari is stolen, no one says that he shouldn’t have bought such a flashy car. Only rape victims are blamed for being the victim of a crime. Even when there is sufficient evidence that a rape did occur, the woman is often still under scrutiny and is questioned on “what she did” to cause herself to be raped. Her skirt was too short, her top was too revealing, she drank too much, or she was a “tease” because she engaged in flirtatious behavior with the accused. Even going on a date, returning to a guy’s house and making out with him can be seen as a green light for rape to some people.

Rape is often difficult to prove because there are usually only two people involved, so unless a woman is bruised, beaten, and battered in the process, her cries of rape will be scrutinized. Politics also play a part in whether or not a rape victim will be believed. The age and race of the accused and the victim may play a part in whether or not the victim is believed. People are more likely to believe that the honor student was raped as opposed to the party girl. Rape victims are already faced with skepticism and these outside circumstances influence whether or not they are believed even more. This is the reason that many rapes go unreported and the true statistics on the numbers of rapes in this country will never be known.

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