when I recently cited the BBC report statistics that 85,000 women were victims of rape or attempted rape in the UK in 2006, a female friend of mine (who follows me on tumblr hello) responded with “yeah, but how many of them made it up?” 

even if hundreds of women lied, there were tens of thousands of attacks. even if thousands of women lied, there were tens of thousands of attacks. even if tens of thousands of women lied … yep, there were still tens of thousands of attacks. 20% of rapes also go unreported, likely because women are too scared or know that it’s unlikely that reporting the rape will actually end in their rapist being convicted. 

how awful that we live in a culture that prompts responses like “lots of those women were probably lying” rather than “jesus fucking christ 85,000 sex attacks on women in the UK in a year is absolutely terrible that is quite clearly still a huge problem and attitudes towards women need to change” 

edit: just did some research and it turns out that the most comprehensive research ever done into this area suggests that, taking into account the fact that the police often dismiss rape cases based on personal beliefs rather than official regulations, approximately 3% of reported rapes are actually false. so if you take into account the fact that approximately 20% of rapes go unreported, here’s the new more accurate figure for rapes or attempted rapes in the UK in 2006:

99,450.