https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/entertainment-arts-41594672
I’m glad Weinstein was finally criminally convicted: but the crazy and sobering part? He was only found guilty of two counts. Just two.
That’s out of the 100+ women who have accused him publicly, and the six women who testified at the trial, some of whom did allege **pe. (One of the guilty charges was for rape)
This goes to show just how difficult it is for women who have been assaulted to successfully bring their claims all the way to trial and a guilty verdict. Particularly when the abuser is rich and powerful.
The critics of #MeToo who think sexual assault allegations are all about publicity and money-grabbing (unless accompanied by a guilty verdict) fail to truly understand this.
One reason why the #MeToo critics' suspicion is misplaced? “Unproven allegations” precede a determination of guilt by necessity. It takes time, sometimes years, for a criminal case to be brought to a jury verdict. And there are all sorts of ways a case can fail along the way that don’t necessarily mean we can conclude the defendant was exonerated.
It is very tricky to estimate a topic like this, but a commonly-cited study suggests that only 2-10% of reported **pes and sexual assaults are false.
See: https://www.google.com/amp/s/psmag.com/.amp/news/false-reports-of-sexual-assault-are-rare-but-why-is-there-so-little-reliable-data-about-them
Primary source study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21164210/
Bottom-line? We shouldn’t believe all women, but we should believe *most* of them.
Caption this Meme
