Nice try, Kelly of the UK. In the highly touted U.S. book about the Duke Lacrosse non-rape "Until Proven Innocent" (a book praised even by the New York Times, which the book skewers), the authors flatly state at page 374: ""The standard assertion by feminists that only 2 percent of rape claims are false, which traces to Susan Brownmiller's 1975 book 'Against Our Will,' is without empirical foundation and belied by a wealth of empirical data." The authors proceed to chronicle the evidence that false rape accusations occur "with scary frequency."

We need to get beyond the bow wow of the radical gender feminists, with their rote indoctrination, and get at the truth. Your laws are putting innocent men behind bars, and it is better to allow 100 guilty go free than convict one innocent man. Even if the crime is rape.

Rufus, Pittsburgh , USA/Pennsyvlania

kelly uk, you shouldn't make that comparison with homosexual rape. If a man sleeps on a bed wearing only his underpants with someone he thinks is a buddy but turns out to be a homosexual rapist, that is not the same thing as a woman doing that in her underwear. Homosexual rape crosses another boundary which has additional trauma, shame and -
frankly - great disgust. If a woman gets drunk and sleeps with a man half naked, the implications of doing that are very different.

If a man falls onto a bed in his underpants with a buddy, he does not expect him to be homosexual. Whereas sexual dynamics between men and women are constant.

I find it disturbing and offensive that you suggest homosexuality has no deeply offensive ramifications for a normal heterosexual man. This is political correctness gone mad, why you ever made that comparison.

Joe, Manchester,

Mark,
What is the problem here. It is illegal to have sex with someone without consent, plain and simple. All that is happening here is that juries are told this fact before they decide whether or not a criminal act has occurred. This law is to protect men and women. The increase in men making rape allegations has increased dramtically in the last few years, because of the attitude that anyone who drinks is consenting to sex. There have been plenty of men who have got drunk and then been alone with another man (and in cases more than one man), often while wearing little clothing (men often end up hald naked on nights out drínking) and have then claimed to be raped.At the moment juries are saying that these men consented to sex simply by being drunk, scantily clad, and being unchaperones. Yet this is illegal . Laws are not being changed to convict more rapists, but people are being taught what the law is. I am sure if your son was raped you would agree

kelly, uk,

Mark, Only 2% of rape claims are false, this is the same for other crime claims. But the media are only interested in false rape claims, and extremely violent rapes which involve not just rape but other crimes. The over 70% of normal rapes are ignored by most people. And if I robbed you I would be punished regardless of whether I had beaten you up or kidnapped you, so why should a man who rapes someone be let off because he did not commit other crimes.

kelly, uk,

The possibility of false rape accusations is the elephant in the room here. Until a jury can be sure that it is not being manipulated into sending an innocent man down by a malicious woman it will not convict.

Tina, London,

Why don't we just lock all young men up until they pass their reproductive best. On second thoughts that may prove to be tricky as we might need a few of them to fight some war. Or we may need some of them to deliver new technology or create a business that has the ability to compete internationally. Infact we might also need a few of them to speak up about the way that this social engineering project has become a joke. Rape is the most despicable of crimes and something that should not tolerated by any community, however what is even worse is the unfounded and somtimes criminal false accusations of rape which are repeatedly documented. I wonder if the large criminal injuries package may have something to do with this? How many of us are guilty of creating a romantic setting so that we can participate in the sex act. Will this be seen as fraud. The odd glass of wine helps, will this be classed as drugging the victim. This once great country is being led by a load of freeloading fools.

Mark, Gateshead,

The figures from the Home Office are the true 'myth'.

Reporting an alleged offence is just that, 'alleged'.

It does not mean that a offence took place, as most of the time after serious investtgation by the Police and CPS there is no evidence that an offence did actually take place.

To make policy based on 'myth' figures is a nonsense and an insult to us and the general population at large.

Jeff, Surrey,

I was raped at the age of 15 by a 15 year old boy who was supposed to be my 'boyfriend'. Unfortunately for me, it turned out that he had a different opinion as to what this entailed. Afterwards I was too scared and ashamed to tell anyone. In fact it took ten years before I was able to talk about it. I remember thinking that I had no proof and it would be embarrassing if my parents, the police, friends etc. thought that I wanted to have sex. So it felt better just to try to suppress it. A few months later I developed anorexia and depression. It was many years before I felt able to have normal relationships with men.

withheld, London,

A learned judge once said that rape was an easy crime to allege, a difficult crime to prove and an almost impossible crime to disprove. How right he was! The government have contributed to the low conviction rate by continually tinkering with a law which, while far from perfect, at least worked. Yet again, they are wanting to move the goalposts and their focus is on increasing conviction rates, not improving justice. Consequently, the victims of rape is going to shift in future from wome to men, who are going to be falsely or malicioulsy accused and then convicted of this heinous crime and with little chance of proving their innocence.

S Foster, Doncaster, UK

It is a great pity that the Government has taken the easy route and avoided evidence of "rape trauma",; whilst it would indeed have lead to protracted arguments, the results would have been positive as far as justice is concerned. We have the benefit of an evidential tool that has been robustly tested in the parts of the US that allow its admissibility. The Government should think again. http://www.wikicrimeline.co.uk/index.php?title=Rape_trauma_syndrome#Introduction

Andrew Keogh, Manchester,