Right: On June 18, 2015, Lauren Ingram, a Sydney journalist, named on Twitter a Greens political party official she claimed had raped her. Ingram claimed that the Greens were slow to act against him and that the police had not investigated her case effectively.
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Arguments in favour of naming alleged rapists online
1. The legal system does not always offer justice to the victims of rape
Those who defend rapist shaming online argue that, despite some recent reforms, the criminal justice system offers women very little opportunity to see their abusers charged and successfully convicted. Indeed, it is claimed, knowledge of how unlikely they are to receive any form of legal redress leads many who have suffered rape not to report the crime.
In an analysis published in The Guardian on September 13, 2016, dealing with the increasing incidence of online rape allegations, statistics were given regarding the numbers of successful rape prosecutions that occur annually in the United States. The article claims 'Not surprisingly, most people who are raped do not turn to law enforcement for help. For every 1,000 rapes in America, 344 are reported to police, 63 reports lead to an arrest, 13 cases get referred to prosecutors, and seven will lead to a felony conviction, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Only six rapists out of 1,000 will be put behind bars.'
The Guardian analysis refers to Patti Giggans, the executive director of the United States advocacy group, Peace Over Violence, who states, 'Even with the advances we've made, going through the justice system is an ordeal and still, most rapists are not convicted. That hasn't changed.'
The same point was made by Lisa Pryor in a comment published in The New York Times on August 10, 2017. Apparently referring to the situation in Australia, Pryor remarked, 'Publicly accusing rapists is far from a perfect solution, but at a time when a vast majority of rapes still go unpunished by the criminal justice system, despite decades of reforms aimed at making the process more hospitable to victims, it may be one of the few options that many victims have for bringing some consequences to bear on those who rape.'
Pryor further noted, 'It is time to accept that the criminal justice system may never be capable of providing justice for the vast majority of sexual assaults. The problem is not that we do not take rape seriously; we take it so seriously that we demand silence about perpetrators unless we are reporting on a court case and, as a result, very few perpetrators face any consequence at all.'
2. Publicising alleged rapists would warn potential victims
Many of those who favour naming alleged rapists online claim that this may be the only way that other women can be protected from being assaulted by these men. Many women who have accused their supposed rapists online have stated that they see this as a means of warning and thus protecting other women.
Sydney writer, Erin Riley, has indicated that she wishes she had made the name of her rapist known as he went on to rape another woman whom she knew. In an analysis published on the ABC on August 5, 2017, Riley states, 'I felt so guilty. I felt like if I had recognised it and if I'd said something earlier, if I'd warned her...'
The ABC briefing referring to the online naming of alleged rapists states 'Despite police warnings that public shaming could backfire, women across Australia are joining private Facebook groups that share stories about which men to avoid.'
It quotes one women who has made such posts stating, 'I'm a part of the secret underground feminist mafia that tells all of my friends, and even just women I meet ... about who the bad guys are, who the rapists are.'
News Corps journalist, Lauren Ingram, has similarly posted her alleged rapist's name online, at least in part to warn other women. Ingram states, 'I felt naming him, my abuser, online was my only option. I knew he had assaulted at least one other woman and I was driven by a need to protect others from a man who is a serial rapist.'
Hagar Cohen, who recently wrote a background briefing for the ABC on women naming their alleged rapists online, stated, '"The women I spoke to felt a desire to protect other people from their abusers and many felt a sense of guilt that if they didn't do something, they would let down other people.'
In 2010, feminist author, Germaine Greer, encouraged women to name their alleged rapists online in order to protect other women. She stated, 'Years ago I knew we would never get convictions in a court of law for date rape, so I suggested women kept an online dossier, so if a woman had a date with a guy and he did something to her, or frightened her, and she asked him to stop and he didn't, then instead of going to the police she should put him online.
Other women could check this dossier, look up a guy and see that he has form. Then she can say no, or if she does go, goes knowing it's a high risk strategy.'
3. Naming their alleged rapists can give victims psychological relief
Those who support naming alleged rapists online argue that this can be of psychological value for the victims of the alleged assaults. It has been suggested that as rape is such a disempowering act, leaving the victim feeling violated, vulnerable and without redress, the public naming of their assailants helps to reduce this sense of powerlessness.
Hagar Cohen, an ABC journalist who has investigated the issue, has stated with regard to one of the women whom she interviewed, 'He had taken so much power from her, she felt powerless, and she thought it would be beneficial to take some back.'
Some counsellors have suggested that the positive sense of acting collectively with and on behalf of other rape victims may also be of psychological benefit to women who have been sexually assaulted. Judith Herman, author of 'Trauma and Recovery' has stated 'Survivors undertake to speak about the unspeakable in public in the belief that this will help others. In so doing, they feel connected to a power larger than themselves.'
Louise, in an article titled, 'Speaking Out: The Benefits for Survivors of Sexual Assault' published on 'Pandora's Project: support and resources for survivors of sexual assault' has similarly noted, 'I have experienced the sense that not only does speaking out help other survivors feel less isolated, but that I, too, feel less alone as I join with others engaged in the same battle. It is also richly empowering to have transformed my experiences into the ability to offer something worthwhile to other survivors.
In speaking out, you become part of destroying the forces that have harmed and hurt you. This has been one of the greatest expedients to my own healing. It is just such a fine way to fight back and can reduce one's own fear and shame.'
In an article accepted for publication on February 12, 2015, by Theoretical Criminology, Anastasia Powell stated, 'Naming their attacker or voicing their experience of victimization may go some way to empowering victim-survivors and facilitating a sense of justice, albeit informal or outside of the State..'
4. Presumption of innocence applies in a court of law, not online, or in private life
It has been argued that the presumption of innocence is not a concept that applies in an exchange between private citizens and therefore that a rape victim has no need to presume the innocence of someone she believes has assaulted her.
The presumption of innocence is a concept that applies only in the interaction between the State and someone facing criminal charges. Its intent is to acknowledge the imbalance between the resources of the State, as represented by a prosecuting attorney and his/her office, and those of a private citizen and his/her lawyer.
By having the legal system presume innocence and requiring that the prosecution establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the legal system in countries such as England, Australia and the United States is attempting to ensure that the accused is treated fairly.
An article published in The European Journal of Law and Technology in 2013 explains the difference between what is allowable in a court of law and what may be said in private life. 'From a criminal law point of view, the presumption of innocence is applicable only in the framework of a criminal proceeding. It provides a procedural guarantee only to persons charged with a criminal offence before a court, notably to persons labelled as "suspects" in a criminal trial. By contrast, the right to be presumed innocent cannot be enforced out of the context of a trial or before a charge is formally submitted.'
In an opinion piece published in The Guardian on November 10, 2012, Jill Filipovic explains the difference between the presumption of innocence that the State owes someone facing trial and what a private citizen (in this case a woman accusing her father of sexual assault on YouTube) is able to say.
Filipovic states, 'Protection for criminal defendants is crucial, and so is protection for the falsely accused and wrongly convicted. Putting the burden of proving guilt on the prosecution is a strength of the US legal system. But the video blogger is on YouTube, not in a court room. Her father isn't facing the curtailment of his liberties by the state.'
Filipovic further states, 'To suggest that she can't or shouldn't tell her own story - to suggest that she has to turn her story over to a court before we can accept her word as her own truth - effectively muzzles her and many other women. It clips our agency. It puts our own narrative in the hands of someone who presumably knows better.'
5. Alleged rapists seeking redress are able to sue their accusers or other bodies
Those who defend the right of survivors of sexual assault to name their alleged assailants online note that the accused can sue if they believe the accusations are false.
In a comment published in The Guardian on September 13, 2016, it was noted, 'Those who turn to social media for justice are at risk in many ways. Their online targets could sue them for defamation.'
A growing number of former students have sued their United States colleges for improper handling of rape allegations made against them. Many of these suits have been successful.
An article published in Inside Higher Ed on April 14, 2016 reported on a student successfully suing the University of Southern California for its treatment of rape allegations made against him by another student. The article notes, 'The case joins three other legal wins for accused students in the past two months, and at least 10 in the last year. Some legal experts, including the federal and state judges deciding the cases, say the flurry of recent successes for disciplined students may show how some colleges and universities are eliminating "basic procedural protections" in an attempt to combat campus sexual assault.'
These successful suits by American college students also demonstrate that it is possible to take legal action against rape accusations.