Damn this post resonated. I've been falsely accused and it followed me to college. I was also a victim. I'm sorry you're there. I want to say it gets better but I still haven't found out how to talk to people without overthinking my every breath to make sure it won't make them uncomfortable.
As a falsely accused, I was shunned, basically ruined, and had no life or friends until my accuser admitted that he exaggerated, and projected. I was an outcast for over a year. Still am, somewhat. As a victim, I knew if I tried to come forward, my assailant would fight, slander me, make my sexuality public (I’m gay), and he would crucify me and make himself into a falsely accused long suffering example of what happens when false accusations are taken seriously if he managed to fend it off.
I don’t think that false accusations happen every five seconds, but I think the threat of false accusation is there, and even when the accused’s name is cleared, there are still consequences for the accusation. I also know a lot of real victims, for whatever reason, who were too afraid of being not believed, that they never came forward. And in my case; my assailant raped a girl. Who has the same problems I did. False accusations happen, but so do a lot of unreported assaults.
I genuinely do not know how to fix this problem, but we need to do better. Assuming every victim is telling the truth, but also that not every person who is accused is guilty, at the same time, is impossible. We need to do better. For victims and for the falsely accused. But neither one should be victimized by the mere existence of the other. The problem is the SA/SH/Stalking perpetrators.
The fact that false accusations happen, doesn’t mean that any accusation not absolutely proven is false. We owe it to the victims not to immediately assume they are lying for some ulterior motive. And some cases with “bad facts” for the victim can make them even more afraid. My assailant was my boyfriend. I am a closeted gay in a very religious family. I was severely mentally ill and easily manipulated, suffering from psychosis. I kept quiet because of that. And I hate myself for it.
I hope you were stronger than I am and you managed to report it. I just wish I could have been stronger, kept the evidence, recognized it as what it was, and not gaslit myself into thinking it was me failing to satisfy that was why I should feel bad. Feeling bad because he assaulted me. For HIM. Hah, that’s all kinds of self hate. But I was also severely exhausted, unmedicated psychotic with severe depression, and completely severed from reality. So I just… didn’t accept it happened. For months
I can relate. I got falsely accused right out of Highschool. I was dating this girl sort of. It was more like we were really good friends. It was platonic and highly emotional. We were both minors when we started dating and then when I became adult I broke up with her because the law is the law. She flipped out and trying to file allegations against me. Totally understand the vibes. Makes it hard to live when she wasn’t willing to wait a couple years and catch up with the law.
More on that, I actually have a clear memory of when I realized what happened. After I was medicated and finally working through things, and I kept having flashbacks but they were “wrong,” incomplete. Then the memory finally solidified (I had other information that I had been piecing together, but it wasn’t done yet). That was over 5 months later, after a psychotic break, after the relationship collapsed (because he raped a girl). Obviously can’t report that far out and be taken seriously.
I did therapy for my entire life. I don’t drink anymore but nothing worked. I tried dying. Multiple times. I just keep getting sent back🙄 I remember the afterlife. I didn’t want to come back. But everytime I try to go. God sends me back. So I decided to become a gypsy and I wander around the country part time homeless.
I’ve done everything. Every medication I could and I survive things you shouldn’t be able to survive. I stuck my finger in an electrical outlet in Poland. Survived that. Last February I drowned while scuba diving and kept breathing. Survived that. That’s the second time I’ve drowned while scuba diving. I’ve had multiple near deaths. I remember the afterlife. I was happy there and God still sent me back. I’m involuntarily immortal.
The girl that filed allegations against me in 2016 doesn’t understand that my will to care is Gone. My father killed it over the past 8 years. Her life improved. She got a career entirely at my expense. She lied to everybody and I’ve been surviving. Usually drunk yet now I don’t drink anymore instead I have a caffeine addiction.