Many people contextualise false accusations as being the other side of the coin to domestic (or sexual) violence, but the reality is that they're often intimately linked together.

In fact, false accusations are classified as a form of abuse known as administrative or legal violence, which is a subtype of domestic violence. False accusations also tend to appears alongside other forms of abuse, including physical abuse, and sometimes even murder (which is what happens when an abuser claims "self-defense" in a homicide case).

Despite historically being ignored and downplayed, false accusations have been getting a lot of attention recently. Including by courts, and by domestic violence researchers.

For example, this paper talks about the mental health effects of false allegations on their victims, and their victim's children:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26522849/

And this paper, originally about male victims of sexual assault, discovered that many victims were threatened with false allegations to remain silent about their abuse:

http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/forced-to-penetrate-cases/files/2019/07/BA-FTP-project-report-2019.pdf

One victim recounted this:

‘She said “what are you gonna do? I’ll start screaming rape and you’re up in court tomorrow, do you think they’ll believe anything you’ve got to say?’’'

Courts are also increasingly coming around to the opinion that false allegations can be criminal in nature, and prosecuted under existing laws for domestic violence.

There are also libel suits about this, with one about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard making headlines recently.

We have this audio recording of Amber Heard taunting Johnny Depp, which is very similar to some of the stories recorded by researchers studying male sexual assault victims.

"You can please tell people that it was a fair fight, and see what the jury and judge thinks. Tell the world Johnny, tell them Johnny Depp, I Johnny Depp, a man, I'm a victim too of domestic violence."

...

"Nobody will believe you. So you better do what I want. "

Far from being unusual, many men have come forward recounting similar stories as Depp. These are men who were stuck in abusive relationships and never said anything because they were afraid of not being believed over their abuser.

What this means is that if you care about victims, and if you care about victims being believed and receiving help (as many people claim), then you should care about false accusations as well.

Half of all victims of domestic violence are men. These issues are not nearly as gendered as people think they are. And false allegations are not some kind of counter point against caring about domestic violence. It is not the "male side" of this. If fact, I don't think you have to take sides. Women can be victims of false allegations too, and many women have been intimidated by men in a similar manner (especially if they occupy positions of power and authority in society).

Of course false allegations do complicate things. It means we can't automatically "#BelieveVictims" the way we might want to. But the world is a complicated place. We shouldn't be simplifying serious issues like domestic violence inside of 280 character hashtags. We need to have an open mind and advocate for all victims, including victims of false allegations. If for no other reason than the fact that false allegations are a serious form of abuse on their own, and often show up as a pattern of abuse along with physical abuse as well.