Mob assaults gypsy camp after girl claims rape.

[King Ghidorah]

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/11/italian-girl-rape-claim-gypsy

A 16-year-old Italian girl whose claim that she was raped by Gypsies prompted a furious mob to launch an arson attack on a Turin Roma camp has admitted to police that she invented her story.

Hundreds of residents of the deprived Turin suburb of Vallette took to the streets on Saturday to protest after the girl, who has not been named, claimed she had been dragged behind a building and raped by two Gypsy men.

[...]

The girl's brother, who initially backed her story, arrived with police as the flames grew to announce his sister had confessed to inventing the episode, but his appeal to call off the attack came too late.

Italian daily La Repubblica reported the girl had promised her family she would remain a virgin until she married and lied about the rape after sleeping with her boyfriend.

Things like this is why people are so critical of rape cases. Makes things much harder on the women who actually go through this.

[Cela]

There are places where "raped by gypsies" is an actual concern?

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

Dec 11, 2011 16:11:58 GMT -5 Cela said:

There are places where "raped by gypsies" is an actual concern?

In Italy and the Eastern European countries, there would be a long existing bias against the Romani. That something like this happened against them doesn't exactly surprise me at all.

[dlg3000]

It is a shame that she lied like that. I agree that women like her make it harder for women who were actually raped.

[Piccolo]

Rape's a tough crime to prove. On the other hand, false accusations (which occur about all kinds of crimes) are one very excellent reason that we have the rule of law. Everyone who participated in that mob should be prosecuted.

(I'll also add that I don't often see the argument that people who fake other crimes make it harder on real crime victims. I usually only see it with regard to rape. I don't know why that is.)

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Just awful. All of this violence just because she didn't want to tell her parents the truth.

[Cela]

Dec 11, 2011 16:23:34 GMT -5 dlg3000 said:

It is a shame that she lied like that. I agree that women like her make it harder for women who were actually raped.

They make it tough on us too! When I was in college, a girl claimed it falsely and we became a dry campus. Even after she admitted she was lying, the policies remained.


Yes, I realize there is a difference.

[Cyno]

It doesn't help that there's a very longstanding prejudice/outright hatred of the Romani amongst a lot of Europeans.

[moneyman20]

Gypsies, because of the hatred against them, have no chance in this situation.

[Cyno]

Dec 11, 2011 16:30:13 GMT -5 Piccolo said:

(I'll also add that I don't often see the argument that people who fake other crimes make it harder on real crime victims. I usually only see it with regard to rape. I don't know why that is.)

Because we live in a patriarchal society where women are still subconsciously treated as inferior.

[Cela]

Dec 11, 2011 16:33:39 GMT -5 @moneyman20 said:

Gypsies, because of the hatred against them, have no chance in this situation.

Are Gypsies the most universally reviled minority? Sure, Jews remain the king in the middle east of revulsion, but, world wide?

[moneyman20]

Dec 11, 2011 16:36:10 GMT -5 Cela said:

Dec 11, 2011 16:33:39 GMT -5 @moneyman20 said:

Gypsies, because of the hatred against them, have no chance in this situation.

Are Gypsies the most universally reviled minority? Sure, Jews remain the king in the middle east of revulsion, but, world wide?

Not worldwide. In Europe they are.

[Drillbit Taylor]

Man what a Gyp, I thought it was going to be different

[Red Impact]

Dec 11, 2011 16:30:13 GMT -5 Piccolo said:

Rape's a tough crime to prove. On the other hand, false accusations (which occur about all kinds of crimes) are one very excellent reason that we have the rule of law. Everyone who participated in that mob should be prosecuted.

(I'll also add that I don't often see the argument that people who fake other crimes make it harder on real crime victims. I usually only see it with regard to rape. I don't know why that is.)

I think it's because rape cases are so highly dependent of victim testimony that, if there is a habit of women of claiming it while not being raped, then it biases the public. It's a crime where, so often, it is really one person's word against another's, so if the public already is in the mindset that women are prone to claiming rape because they're having second thoughts about sleeping with someone, it can make it a lot harder for people who were really raped to convince the public that they're not the same.

That and, really, most other crimes are probably pretty hard to fake on that level. You could fake that you've been murdered to disappear, but forensic evidence will make that much harder to pull off. You could fake a robbery, I suppose, for insurance purposes, but insurance companies will always have the same level of skepticism.

[Alex Shelley]

Um... Just because somebody later claims they weren't actually raped doesn't make it true. You have NO IDEA how many women I know who were legitimately raped and decided to say they were lying just so they wouldn't have to deal with it anymore. The rape culture that we live in, the culture that automatically puts blame or doubt on any woman who claims rape, makes it incredibly difficult for people to go through with reports - along with other reasons that make it difficult.

That's not to say that there isn't a lot of discrimination against the Roma people. I live in the US so I don't really have any firsthand experience, but from the stories I've heard, the discrimination against them is horrific.

[Cela]

Dec 11, 2011 20:49:14 GMT -5 Alex Shelley said:

Um... Just because somebody later claims they weren't actually raped doesn't make it true. You have NO IDEA how many women I know who were legitimately raped and decided to say they were lying just so they wouldn't have to deal with it anymore. The rape culture that we live in, the culture that automatically puts blame or doubt on any woman who claims rape, makes it incredibly difficult for people to go through with reports - along with other reasons that make it difficult.

That's not to say that there isn't a lot of discrimination against the Roma people. I live in the US so I don't really have any firsthand experience, but from the stories I've heard, the discrimination against them is horrific.

There is probably a pretty solid gray area. Do people lie about being raped? Of Course. Are people coerced into changing their story? Definitely. There is usually a huge he said/she said when it comes to rape. Sadly this one appears to be one of those.