The issue with the alleged rape victim brought to mind something I have been wanting to say for a little while.

We at r/MR often insist that men accused of rape should be treated as innocent until proven guilty, rather than a preponderance of evidence. We should be sure to treat rape accusers the same way.

In the case of the makeup artist / alleged rape victim, there was a claim of being raped, a motive for being dishonest, and the capability to fake the situation. Ask yourself this: did the evidence prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was a fake story?

If the answer to that is no, then it would be hypocritical for us to accuse her of lying.

When these situations happen, there are two possible and mutually exclusive crimes that were committed. 1. Someone raped someone else. 2. Someone lied about being raped. Each crime should be treated identically. Even if there is insufficient evidence to prove that the rape occurred, there may also be insufficient evidence to prove that a lie was told. There is a huge range of middle ground where it is impossible to prove one way or another.

I don't think it was wrong to suggest that there was a possibility for a fake story, and encourage others not to jump to conclusions without proof, but I think some people went overboard on accusing the person of faking the story.