Recently, there has been quite the stir on social media about accusations steamed with the well known Kavanaugh issues and President Trump’s latest tweet, “It’s a very scary time for young men in America, when you can be guilty of something that you may not be guilty of…In this realm, you truly are guilty until proven innocent.”

Not only is the President giving victims a bad rap, but many parents are going online and talking about arming their sons with a camera and microphone to avoid potential allegations. This is creating a great deal of people overlooking true victims of sexual assault or rape and instead viewing them as the issue.

With this logic of thinking you victimize the abuser and criminalize the victim, who at this point, has endured far more than what is fair for just existing, the odds of being accused of sexual assault is between 2-10%. Statistics show that one out of six women will be raped and every two minutes one is being sexually assaulted.

Although falsely being accused of a crime can be an unimaginable problem, it is not nearly as likely as the statistics of a women getting assaulted or raped. False allegations rarely go anywhere considering you need such a high level of evidence in order to prove they are guilty; therefore, it is also rare for an actual criminal to face his punishment.

Out of one thousand rapist, 994 will walk free. And there is already a massive social stigma of shame which is why 63% of rape and assault crimes aren’t reported.

  In this day and age you really wouldn’t think the blame would be put on someone who did nothing wrong but instead on the rapist or assaulter committing the crime. Unfortunately, victim shaming has become a very real thing that stops a number of women from coming forward.  There is even another huge movement from the #Metoo called #WhyIDidntReport, where real victims will share why they went against seeking justice. Their reasons ranging from being told they were making a big deal out nothing and being an overall attention seeker to it being their boss.

Just because a single person from the Kavanaugh case may have been lying is no reason to belittle everyone who has actually experienced this. Shaming someone for coming forward may cause them to feel too trapped and ashamed to come forward because of how ill we speak of others. It’s a scary time, just in a different way.