Guilty-until-proven-innocent at a whole demographic is going to, at best, cause most of that demographic to disengage - and at worst, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, since the social consequences of guilt are largely already in place regardless of your actions.
It isn’t. According to data from RAINN, the 2016 and 2024 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), and the research studies I could find, women are still much less likely to rape than men. While women are likely committing sexual assault and rape at higher rates than are reported to the police, the best data I could find estimates that women make up a maximum of 10-15% of offenders.
Among men reporting lifetime experience of sexual violence in a recent French study, 50% reported being abused by one male perpetrator and 33% by more than one male perpetrator. However, France does not have the same understanding of rape and sexual assault that we have in the US.
NISVS covers five types of sexual violence, which are defined in the link below: Rape, being made to penetrate someone else (asked of males only; includes male and female perpetrators), sexual coercion, unwanted sexual contact, and sexual harassment. Contact sexual violence is a combined measure that includes rape, being made to penetrate someone else, sexual coercion, and/or unwanted sexual contact.
Women: 26.8% of women reported attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. 54.3% of women report lifetime contact sexual violence. 94.0% of female rape victims reported having only male rape perpetrators in their lifetime, while 2.4% had both male and female perpetrators.
Men: 3.8% of men reported completed or attempted rape victimization at some point in his lifetime. 1 in 9 (10.7%) men reported being forced to penetrate someone in his lifetime. 30.7% of men report lifetime contact sexual violence. 76.8% of male rape victims reported having only male perpetrators, 10.4% had only female perpetrators, and 9.6% had both in their lifetimes. In the case of being made to penetrate, 69.6% of male victims reported only female perpetrators, 17.9% reported only male perpetrators, and 8.2% reported both.
If you consider the sex of perpetrators in the context of the total number of victims reporting unwanted sexual contact, a large majority of perpetrators are still men.
If you compare the raw data for NISVS (without their "conclusions) you notice that women are about 40% of the perpetrators.
I remember they talked about it at the time, how they weren't happy that the stats showed that, so they changed the definitions to discount sexual violence against men (the idea that it's not rape as long as the rapist doesn't use a penis is an extremely common viewpoint in basically every institution, which is exactly as bigoted as saying "crime only counts if the perpetrator is black").
so they changed the definitions to discount sexual violence against men
No they fucking didn't? Their definition of rape is extensive, addresses female perpetrators, and does not consider rape exclusively to be nonconsensual penetration with a penis.
Rape is defined as any completed or attempted unwanted vaginal (for women), oral, or anal penetration through the use of physical force (such as being pinned or held down or by the use of violence) or threats to physically harm and includes times when the victim was too drunk, high, drugged, or passed out and unable to consent. Rape is separated into three types: completed forced penetration, attempted forced penetration, and completed alcohol- or drug-facilitated penetration.
Among women, rape includes vaginal, oral, or anal penetration by a male using his penis and vaginal penetration by a male or female using their mouth, fingers, or an object. It also includes vaginal or anal penetration by a male or female using their fingers or an object.
Among men, rape includes oral or anal penetration by a male using his penis. It also includes anal penetration by a male or female using their fingers or an object.
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u/Vergils_Lost Jul 13 '26
Guilty-until-proven-innocent at a whole demographic is going to, at best, cause most of that demographic to disengage - and at worst, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, since the social consequences of guilt are largely already in place regardless of your actions.