There's been several other posts about it in this subreddit, but as you may or may not have heard, Netflix is releasing a new series titled Unbelievable, which supposedly follows a trues story about a woman who was labeled as a "false rape accuser" who actually turned out to be telling the truth. I could be wrong, but due to the title and the trailers released so far, it seems like this movie revolves around singaling the idea that this is what happens when we don't believe all women. However, I think that is important (especially if this series picks up steam and becomes a huge subject on mainstream news and social media) to point out that using this story to push the #believewomen narrative is being completely dishonest about what actually happened in that situation. It is for this reason that although I commented about this elsewhere, it is worth putting it into a separate post.

I've actually read through the story that this series is based on. It's right here if anyone wants to read it, but regardless there is a few things I got out of it that you're not likely to see in the Netflix series:

1. The rapist in question was a 30 year old Bundy-like pyscocapth that was convicted for breaking into the homes of dozens of women and raping them using blunt force. Not exactly the picture of a 19 year-old socially akward college kid who "misunderstood nonverbal cues" who is more likely to be the subject of a false allegation.
2. The girl in question, Marie, wrote out a written statement, signed and everything, stating that she completely recanted and her story was false. She did this because although her story was true, a single police officer decided to act irresponsibly by intimidating/coercing her into signing the document. He did all of this without informing her of her Miranda rights or letting her speak to a lawyer first.
3. It was only because of this document that the SAME police officer filed charges against Marie. Because the confession was obtained illegally, it would have been immediately thrown out in court (Marie didn't ever go to trial btw, because the charges were dropped). What the police officer did was also illegal and he should have been inmediately fired.
4. The pyscopath did not get away with rape, and is currently spending the rest of his life in prison.
5. One of the two lawyers working on Marie's case on the behaf of Marie has stated herself that automatically believing the victim is not the right attitude to have, and prefers the phrase, "listen and verify".

On top of all this, as someone who was falsely accused of sexual misconduct, it's almost frightening how many similarities dealing with the police that my story had to Marie's.

What happened to Marie was absolutely horrible and should never have occured. But it stems down to what sounds a like a due process issue. It's a firm reminder on why due process and the presumption of innocence should apply universally to all situations. But something tells me that this television series is gonna potray the complete opposite and go the "See? This is what happens when you don't believe all women!" route. If so, they are being dishonest and using what otherwise is a tragic story as political propoganda.

/r/SupportForTheAccused