A student-run website at the University of Washington that posts unsubstantiated rape accusations is disconcerting yet thought-provoking. While we cannot condone the approach, we also must consider why the women who run the site believe that it is necessary to warn other women.
By allowing the names of alleged perpetrators to be listed without corroborating evidence, the Make Them Scared website provides an extrajudicial forum that is ripe for abuse and diminishes important discussions that need to take place. Accusers are afforded anonymity on the site, which is not sanctioned by or affiliated with the university.
In publishing the names of accused rapists, website organizers hope to alert potential victims and to expose those who might pose a danger to the community. But there could be some unintended consequences. One is that the site’s format could be exploited by false accusations. Another is that moderators open themselves to defamation lawsuits. And another is that it emboldens men’s rights activists determined to undermine women’s rights and ignore legitimate claims of sexual assault.
During the heated controversy over the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump claimed, “It’s a very scary time for young men in America,” suggesting that men live in fear of being falsely accused of rape. It was an absurd claim, but one that resonated with a certain segment of the population. All of that threatens to overshadow the risk that women face in the United States while delegitimizing valid claims of assault. In truth, incidents of false accusations are rare; various legitimate studies have found that about 5 percent of rape accusations eventually prove to be false.
In short, women who say they have been assaulted must be heard and taken seriously, and they must be empowered to go through the proper channels to make their accusations rather than posting them on a rogue website. We must improve a system that for too long has been eager to blame the accuser or dismiss their claims, and we must give victims reason to have faith in that system. It is a system that currently has more than 6,000 untested rape evidence kits in Washington alone, a system that has failed victims.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one in five women in college are victims of sexual assault and only one in five of those women report it. The #MeToo movement has helped bring necessary attention to a culture that allows too many people to abuse positions of power in academic or workplace settings, and such attention must result in substantive changes.
One moderator of the Make Them Scared site told the UW student newspaper, “I wanted everything that was coming to light (from #MeToo) not to be buried again. But a year went by, and things faded like they always do. Nothing changed. I knew I’d never forgive myself if I stood by and did nothing while I waited for things to get better.”
It is, indeed, time for things to get better. It is time to remove the stigma that sexual assault is somehow the fault of the victim; it is time to hold perpetrators accountable rather than make excuses for violent behavior; it is time to embolden victims with confidence that their claims will be heard and that justice will be sought.
Make Them Scared, unfortunately, does not equate to justice. Sexual assault must be reported and investigated, not aired in a forum where accusers can remain anonymous and the innocent run the risk of being wrongly besmirched.
