Markup View

Author: SKJAM

Sep 17th 2011 at 10:47:20 AM

We might want to have a list of "types" to clear out some confusion...

#Mistaken Identity:  The accused did not have sex with the alleged victim at the time claimed.  They may have had sex with the alleged victim at other times.  This is generally seen in fiction with "stranger rape", cases where the alleged victim was too impaired to correctly identify the attacker or cases where the victim was also murdered and is unable to provide an identification.  This is also the easiest type to clear up.

#CultureClash:  The sexual encounter is not rape in the accused's culture but is in the accuser's culture.  May involve issues of dubious consent or differing legal codes.

#Post-coital Regrets:  The accuser decides (or has it decided for them) after the case that the sexual encounter was rape based on embarrassment, new information about the accused or social pressure.

#He Said She Said:  The sexual encounter occurred, but the accused and accuser have very different takes on what happened.  The most difficult to sort out as both stories may be entirely sincere.  Whether the audience believes the rape charge is valid or false may depend on which character they find more sympathetic.

#MaliciousSlander: The accused is simply accused of having committed rape for the purpose of harming them.  For this, there need not have been any actual sex or alleged victim at all.  Usually does not involve legal charges, unlike some of the others as it is "just" a rumor.