Rape is a horrible crime, but so are also false accusations of sexual abuse. While there are many real cases of “#MeToo”, there are also a lot of people who like about sexual assault to get attention or just to cover for their own misdeeds. One horrible example of this was the case of Charles Payne, a black FOX News television personality who was accused by then FOX News journalist Scottie Nell Hughes of rape, when the reality was that she was sexting him and requesting that he have relations with her. The lawsuit was settled, but Hughes almost ruined Payne’s life over a false rape allegation.
The situation with false rape accusations has made dating and casual sex dangerous territory for young men, where guilt is assigned first and the facts of the case questioned only after the fact and with a lot of external pressure exerted from the accused. It has become so dangerous that one attorney is advocating that without express written or recorded video consent, it is a serious danger for any man to attempt to have relations with a woman.
Brad Koffel, a Columbus criminal defense attorney in private practice for more than 25 years and managing partner of Koffel Brininger Nesbitt, advises his clients to obtain written consent for sexual acts, even if it’s just a text message, or any sort of audio or video recording indicating consent.
“If they don’t,” he said, “in this climate, then they’re going to suffer some consequences.” (source)
Fornication is not good. It cannot be justified. Likewise, neither can false rape accusations be justified either. While failure of good moral judgment do happen, most do not involve rape, a serious crime.
If the two genders cannot trust each other to be in peace with each other without the fear of permanent, life-crippling and destructive allegations being thrown at them, it is not possible for families to form or for society to function in a normal way.