Suse,
I dont see why rape claims would be hard to prove. There are so many laws which have stripped defendends, I.e. men, of their rights so now all it takes is a woman's bitter claim to ruin a man's life.

You might think why would women be bitter when they get basically everything in divorces, but unfortunately a substantial minority of women feel their 'hurt' feelings alone justify any behaviour.

If lying goes both ways in divorces then judgements certainly dont. Judgements invariably favour the woman so obviously only one side is being believed. However, I congratulate you for even admitting women can lie. When all these made-up offences like date/marriage rape were made law, a woman's word was seen as sacrosant. As if women, the poor creatures, were incapable of lying. So it is nice to see you have at least given them back some free agency.

Suse,
Btw. Dont know any judges - just their victims.

Dane, I would say that there isn't enough evidence either way you want to look at it.

Both men and women can be, and are, bitter after relationship breakdowns, so I doubt we can make a contest of it.

As far as rape is concerned, I don't have any proof about the number of rapes that go unreported because of the dreadful ordeal they go through in the court system, but I would suggest they would feel at least as bad as the guys who are wrongly convicted.

Of course, we shouldn't forget the terrible rapes and sexual assaults amongst gay men too. They are even less likely to report their rapes.

Suseonline,

It isn't only gay men. It isn't a crime with one gender as the perpetrator.

< Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Community

Sexual assault and domestic violence are serious concerns for members of LGBT/Queer communities, as they are for all people. Sexual assault and domestic violence can affect LGBT individuals in a number of ways:

Bisexual, transgendered, lesbian, and gay people experience violence within their intimate relationships at about the same rates as heterosexuals (Waldner-Haugrud, 1997; AVP, 1992)
- 30% of lesbians report having experienced sexual assault or rape by another woman (not necessarily an intimate partner) (Renzetti, 1992)
- 15% of men living with a male intimate partner report being raped, assaulted or stalked by a male cohabitant (CDC, 1999)>

http://www.wcsap.org/lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer-community

.

Dear Suseonline,

.

There is no doubt women are more often victims than perpetrators when it comes to sex-related crimes. That some make false accusations is inevitable. But given the extremely low conviction rates for rape (2.6% in the UK this year), the case of Natasha Foster in Northern Ireland, posted by “dane”, must be about as likely as being run over by a car when crossing the street.

I certainly don’t wish false accusations or street accidents on anybody but it goes without saying that most of us consider that crossing the street is a risk we are prepared to take. The same goes for breaking-up with girl friends.

The false accusation of Natashia was prompted by the off-handed way her boyfriend broke off the relation by sending a text after he had sexual relations with her. Though not very elegant, it does not legally qualify the sexual relation which preceded it as rape. But on the spur of the moment, shocked by this unexpected announcement (she was probably led to believe there was more to it than just sex), it is comprehensible that she did feel she had been raped.

Two days after declaring the rape Natashia realised it was a false accusation and admitted it. Her ex-boyfriend was cleared of all charges. She spent three months in jail.

The psychology of the sexes is quite different. Natashia probably thought she was having a love affair. Her boyfriend thought he was just having sex (though he probably did not tell Natashia). It was a rude awakening to both.

In the end, Natashia’s boyfriend’s good name and reputation were cleared. Natashia was punished twice: she felt she was tricked into having sexual relations under false pretences and was condemned to three months in jail.

As for the article in “The Forensic Examiner” posted by “onthebeach”, the author clearly indicates at the beginning of the 6th paragraph from the end of his long, scientific analysis:

“There is no way of knowing the number of defendants who have been convicted of rape on the basis of a false allegation”.

.

.

Dear onthebeach,

.

Your statistics are interesting but a bit outdated. Perhaps you might like to consider the following:

- There were 121 000 marriages but also 50 200 divorces in Australia in 2010.
- Roughly 50% of divorces each year impact on children aged less than 18 years
- 41% of all reported sexual assault victims were aged 0-14 years (Aust. Institute of Health & Welfare, 2009)
- 19% of women and 5.5% of men reported experiencing sexual violence since the age of 15 ( Aust. Bureau of Stats. survey, 2005)
- 25% of women experienced intimate partner physical violence at least once in their lifetime and in the last 12 months, 1995–2006 (UN Stats. Division:

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/Worldswomen/WW2010%20Report_by%20chapter%28pdf%29/violence%20against%20women.pdf)

- Family Violence costs Australia about $8 billion per year, a substantial proportion of which is borne by the victims themselves (Vic. Health, 2004)

According to a survey by The Aust. Institute of Criminology in 2003 :

- 20.8% of all homicides involve intimate partners. This represents approximately 76 homicide incidents within Australia each year.
- Over three-quarters (76.9%) of these intimate partner homicides involved a male offender and a female victim.
- Of these homicides, 65.8% occurred between current spouses or de-facto partners, whilst 22.6% occurred between separated/divorced spouses or de facto partners.
- 10% occurred between current or former boy/girlfriends, and
- 2% occurred within same sex relationships

Even if there were to be just as much intimate partner violence in same sex marriage as there is at present in heterosexual marriage, at least the protagonists would be boxing in the same category !

On the basis of the latest available statistics, same sex relationships only count for 2% of all intimate partner homicides.
Also, about 50% of all heterosexual marriages today, end up in separation or divorce. The children end up living with a single sex parent, generally, the mother.

I posted all this on OLO on 08.05.2013. Here is the link:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=14983#258446

.