It feels insane that this even needs to be said but the ever-growing chorus of women complaining about "not being believed" when they make rape complaints/accusations needs to be countered.

There are plenty of reasons for women to lie about sexual violence, whether it's to get revenge, to get the upper-hand in divorce and custody disputes, to cover up infidelity, etc. And when someone makes a public accusation or criminal complaint against another person, they are not a neutral party since they've demonstrated an interest in having that person face consequences(rightfully or otherwise), so their word should be taken with a big grain of salt. They are not like, say, a bystander witnessing a crime who had no prior connection to the parties involved.

This goes for other crimes as well, but rape is uniquely worth addressing for several reasons:

  1. Compared to other crimes, rape trials tend to rely heavily on complainant testimony, due to the lack of other forms of evidence.
  2. For the same reason, it's very easy to plausibly falsely accuse someone of rape, because there is not much they can do or say to exonerate themselves, especially if they had consensual sex and there is physical evidence of intercourse.
  3. To most people rape is one of the worst crimes someone can be accused of, arguably second only to murder.
  4. There is no social movement demanding that we automatically believe other types of complainants, and labelling those who don't as misogynists, enablers, etc.