I came across this comment http://discussion.guardian.co.uk/comment-permalink/21390869 copied here:

Yes it must be terrible to be falsely accused of rape, but its even worse to be raped and for your attacker to get away with it. As usual comments show little concern for victims of rape

I hate to be the insensitive asshole who causes the awkward silence in the room, but I instinctively feel pressured to just agree with expressions like this. Now and then I think about them though, and I wonder if I feel they're right.

But it's like you're a villain to question them, and that's wrong. We SHOULD question claims.

This is a sticky issue because not all rapes are the same, not all victims (of rape or false accusation) are the same, and not all fictional rapes are the same, nor are all fictional rape victims.

I personally feel concern for victims of rape... even a large concern. I think it's horrifying. But sometimes I think we give it so much attention we begin to show an utter lack of consideration for the suffering of those victims of other crimes. Be they theft, non-sexual assaults, stalking, or false accusations.

Victims of actual rapes have the specific trauma of the incident. They also have the unique fear of the person who hurt them.

Then there are other things they suffer which victims of false accusation suffer. Social stigmas. Mistrust of others. Disruption to life.

I'm sure there's some other criteria which apply to one or both groups (victims of rape, victims of false rape accusation, or VORs and VOFRAs) so I would appreciate if anyone could volunteer stuff.

In terms of social consequence though: isn't someone thought to be a liar AND a rapist usually more socially damaged than someone thought merely to be a liar? The rape itself is an experience that someone falsely accused doesn't suffer, but I question if that is actually worse. Situations of assault are things that basically get resolved and put behind you in a manner of speaking. It's usually 1 aggressor (or a small group in the case of gang rapes). In the case of false accusations though, an innocent non-rapist pretty much has dozens, if not hundreds, if not thousands of faceless anonymous threats to them, any of whom might try to kill them to remove what they perceive as evil from society.

I don't dispute that victims of rape also suffer discrimination, but I think the pure weight of it is just smaller. It just seems to me like the mass of humanity out to vigilante-kill rape-suspects is a lot heavier than that of people with outdated viewpoints that 'if my daughter is raped I gotta kill her' or 'if my daughter consented to sex before marriage I gotta kill her' types. Yeah they exist, but they seem like a minority compared to the "I trust my daughter/sister/girlfriend and will kill whoever she accuses" types.