Why would she lie?

So I was spurred to make this topic by a question asked in another topic to put together sources for why false accusations of sexual assault or rape are made.

This is something that comes up from time to time because "Why would she lie?" seems to be often leveled in response to reasonable or even credible doubt as to the truth of a particular allegation. So here's "why", with sources:

• A news article listing 12 cases of public knowledge, one for each separate reason

• O'Neil and Spohn 2014, an n=55 survey study

• Zutter, Horsenburg, and van Koppin 2017, another study n=57, cites a lot of work prior to O'Niel and Spohn 2014 that also addressed the question.

• I also found a couple reasons from a curious investigation handbook that cites some events not cited elsewhere -- but isn't something I'd regard as a particularly useful source in and of itself.

In summary, the reasons include, but are not limited to:

• Acquiring Medical Attention

• Acquiring extra leeway for academic failure

• An attempt to gain advantage in Child Custody hearings.

• Disability Benefits (possibly a somewhat unique case of Elizabeth M. Gray)

• As an alibi (for cheating on one's spouse or boyfriend, or for some other activity)

• Out of Anger or for Revenge

• Attention/Sympathy-seeking

• Regret

• Social pressure to relabel consensual sex.

• Mental disorders or a disturbed mind.

The most common reasons seem to be Attention-seeking, Alibis, Anger/Revenge, and possibly mental disorders, but the two studies that I linked do not necessarily agree on the specifics of categories, and seem to me to be designed to discover categories of motivation more than to get accurate distributions between those motivations.