Many on the grassroots Left have shifted towards a position of always -- barring extreme absurdity -- siding with an accuser making claims of sexual assault, particularly when that accuser is a woman (or a POC), and even more so when the accused assailant is a celebrity. A recent example, and why I bring this up now, involves a member of PWR BTTM, and previously another similar complaint against a member of Swans.

The point of this inherent trust in the supposed victim is to help counter the positions of power that celebrities, white people, and men have over others. The validity of that power is not the point of this thread. What I'd ask is if you think it's a good thing to trust and be responsive to victims' claims, and whether you see that as contrary to the principle of innocence until guilt is proven, or if it's possible to not only support a supposed victim and the accused person. Is the act of vocally trusting the victim's claim potentially defamatory for the accused, and does that even matter?

Automatically believing the victim in every circumstance would only be a valid strategy if false testimonies never happened, which isn't the case. As with every other crime, it should be investigated and proven in court before convicting anyone.

They were probably asking for it anyway.

OT: I don't even know why they are pushing this "Trust the victim!", was rape not taken seriously in the developed world already?

It just gets the uninformed and ignorant riled up because it implies that it was.

Or it's because rapes were previously left unreported because the victim would get negativity thrown their way (slut-shaming or what have you), or the suspected rapist was someone of power or fame and would've been laughed or bribed out of court (See Jimmy Saville).

Ironically I'd say it got worse when stuff like this came up where it's quoted;

Affirmative consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual activity and can be revoked at any time.

which has been warped into something like this, where people believe you can revoke consent hours/days after the fact and most people wouldn't take that seriously.

People accused of rape should always be looked at with suspicion. There's no reason for a young girl to lie about something so personal and shamed by society.

People accused of rape should always be looked at with suspicion. There's no reason for a young girl to lie about something so personal and shamed by society.

How else does daddy's little princess get attention?