Howard's First Black Female Chemistry Instructure gets six figure grant to research rape investigation methods

[Yukaphile]

I'll take anything I can to strengthen the perception of survivors and tell the real story of them and what it's like for the victim and the victimizer. Not this after-the-fact revisionist history bullshit going on.

[Worffan101]

I could be WAY off about that percentage of rape victims being male thing, btw. Male reporting is so low, even to confidential questioners like people doing surveys for RAINN, and especially among adult male victims, the actual numbers are probably WAY off from just 90% woman 10% men. Like, with women, they're generally worried about reporting because of the trauma conga line that is our ass-backwards system of dealing with sexual violence. But they WILL vent about it to a confidential questioner because it's on their chest and it's painful and they want to get it out there in a way that won't wreck their personal life.

Men on the other hand...well, as a guy I can say personally that if I were raped I'd probably cover it up MYSELF as much as possible. Being the victim of sexual violence is heavily coded to weakness in our society, and men are expected to shun and avoid weakness whenever and however possible. The emasculation, humiliation, and perceived weakness of being a victim of sexual violence means that it takes a TREMENDOUS amount of courage for a man to even admit that he was raped to a friend, and even then there's a good chance he won't be believed.

I mean, we handle rape of women as a very serious crime. There is a tendency to sweep it under the rug if the perp is a powerful or rich white man, yes, and there is an undercurrent of victim-blaming against those who don't fit a stereotypical victim profile, but the concept of violated women being people who must be protected/avenged goes back MILLENNIA. Hell, when the Romans were fumbling around with the first tentative concepts of what would 1800 years later become nationalism, one of the very first concepts they glommed on to was the association of foreign rule with rape of a woman and the victimized woman/nation as someone/something that had to be avenged with extreme brutality and blood-oaths of undying wrath and vengeance. If a woman's account is believed, the entire narrative surrounding her case changes because of this concept ingrained in American society for literally thousands of years, that women are to be protected and that raping a woman is the ultimate crime that merits the most extreme vengeance.

Men, though? A man who's raped is unmasculine. Humiliated. Effeminate. Inferior. Weak. People laugh off the very concept.

So basically, yeah, women under-report sexual violence, but we have a pretty good idea of about how many women have actually been sexually assaulted or raped. We have nowhere near as good an idea about how many men are victims of sexual violence. And that lets plenty of predators operate with impunity.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

''Improved rape investigation methods'' always seems to translate to ''lets find a way around innocent until proven guilty'' in my experience.

Just what experience is this you are referring to? Please, elaborate.

The experience of listening to these people.

These people being...forensic scientists? Victims of rape? Me?

[G-Man]

Anything improving forensic science is an unalloyed good. Not only would help catch rapists, but it could also conceivably prevent or correct people from being incorrectly accused. So I really cannot see any downside to this.

[Admiral X]

Sad thing is that male rape is still largely treated as a joke.

Still, I have to worry about due process, because looking at college campuses with their Title IX "investigations" and at our neighbors to the north, it seems the regressive left would love to do away with that pesky "innocent until proven guilty" standard.

[clearspira]

''Improved rape investigation methods'' always seems to translate to ''lets find a way around innocent until proven guilty'' in my experience.

Just what experience is this you are referring to? Please, elaborate.

The experience of listening to these people.

These people being...forensic scientists? Victims of rape? Me?

Lefties.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Well next time if you mean "Lefties" just SAY lefties, for Hecate's sake!

Do you find anything in particular problematic about this advance in forensic science, left-leaning or otherwise, or did you merely come here to heap scorn and generalities on somebody trying to make the world a tiny bit more just?

[Admiral X]

"Justice" seems to have different definitions depending on who you talk to these days.

[Mecha82]

There can only come good from this. Better scientific methods mean that not only rapist get caught better but also that anyone who is wrongly accused from rape can be proven innocent. So it's win-win for everyone else than actual rapists. Of course this might not fix problem of more rape victims coming forth because victim blaming are still a thing in modern western society.

[Madner Kami]

Better scientific methods mean that not only rapist get caught better but also that anyone who is wrongly accused from rape can be proven innocent.

Innocence does not need to be proven in both the US and german and really any decent justice system.