What’s Next?

I read this manifesto over at The Rights of Man a while ago, it seemed to have some good points but there was something in the tone that put me off a bit. I found this rebuttal today, mostly spot on (perhaps does get a little too personally attacking for my liking) but I couldn’t agree with this bit:

“Make the state recognise/support male domestic violence victims”
“Support anonymity for men accused of rape, unless found guilty”

These two points are about denying the reality of men’s violence against women, by on the one hand belittling it by claiming that men suffer just as badly, and on the other hand, not recognising the scale of it, by claiming that women make false allegations of abuse.

And no, you wouldn’t expect me to support the idea that every woman who incredibly bravely reports her rape to the police should be institutionally considered to be a liar. And it’s an interesting and illustrative choice of priorities, isn’t it, to put this in rather than attempting to increase the 15% reporting rate and the 6% conviction rate or decrease the horrific number of rapes in this country.

The point of anonymity is not to say that the women are assumed to be lying, but to protect the accused from the media, which just by reporting suggests guilt and spurs legions of people into punitive action irregardless of the actual evidencea and quite literally destroys lives, take the vilification of Robert Murat (in the Madeleine McCann case) whom the media leaped on because he fit a fairly vague description. We live under the rule of law and guilt can only be determined by a jury and the punishment must be done through legal means. Keeping the court of public opinion out of it until the legal process is complete is a really good idea. Anonymity of accused is simply reaffirming that people are innocent until they are proven guilty, and this extends way beyond rape cases.
As for increasing the 6% conviction rate, I think setting statistical goals is dangerous. I find it highly unlikely that only 6% of reported rapes actually occur, but pushing for a statistical change suggests that we need to lower the amount of evidence needed, incredibly risky when so many rape cases revolve around one account verses another with little means to work out who’s telling the truth. I think it’d be great for more guilty rapists to be convicted, but I don’t see how that can happen as a trend without making it easier for the innocent to be convicted.