This article contains references to sexual violence.
“This will set a precedent,” claims one outraged Twitter user. Then a PHD researcher, an NYT-published journalist, and countless others, mostly men, follow suit, calling to question the movement to 'believe all women’. This is in response to the conviction of Eleanor Williams, the 22-year-old receiving an eight-year sentence for false allegations of rape by “Asian sex traffickers.” The fury is understandable, justified even, given that Williams’ claims – which involved being trafficked across countries, working in brothels, and even feigning physical abuse by taking a hammer to her own face – are a massive disservice to genuine victims of sexual assault.
Williams hurts so many with her accusations – the victims she claimed abused her, one of whom tearfully described the vilification that led him to the brink of suicide, other victims who will have their credibility questioned, and women who are yet to see any justice served against their perpetrators. And while we must hold her accountable, let’s not let this one high-profile case negate other sexual assault allegations. The majority of women and other victims who come forward for abuse are telling the truth, and we should believe them.
The resources and helplines you need to know.
Rape allegations are seldom false – the Crown Prosecution Service showed in 2018 that out of 161 rape case prosecutions, there was one false rape prosecution. According to available data — false allegations make up 0.62 per cent of all rape cases. And yet, since the #MeToo movement, there’s been a palpable tension many men have spoken of: the fear of being falsely accused, and cases like Williams only reinforce such paranoid behaviour – just peruse the unrelenting posts of the manosphere to see how ubiquitous this fear is. But the numbers speak for themselves, the average adult man in England and Wales has a 0.00021281% chance of being falsely accused of rape in a year, according to 2018 data. Statistically, he is 230 times more likely to be raped than be falsely accused of it.
While other sources might have a higher count of false rape accusations (a 2005 Home Office study put the figure at 4%), let’s also remember that these figures can be conflated with other factors and do not merely mean the accuser is lying. For example, police record some cases as ‘no crime’ or ‘unfounded’, which doesn’t necessarily mean a crime didn’t occur, just that it was difficult to attain sufficient corroborating evidence (i.e. there was no medical evidence of assault). In some cases, victims might retract statements due to stress, anxiety, harassment etc. The fear of not being believed, which Williams' case will heighten, and being blamed for their abuse all add to the reluctance some feel in coming forward.
It seems we are more incensed by a woman accusing people of rape than people who actually rape. Consider the zeal with which people are denouncing Williams’ wrongdoing – do they have the same energy for the [85,000 women who experience rape](https://criminalinjurieshelpline.co.uk/blog/sexual-assault-data-stats/#:~:text=The charity 'Rape Crisis' has,or sexual assault every year.), attempted rape or sexual assault every year (this number is likely to be higher given many don’t report assault)? Our justice system also shows that it regards male victims in higher esteem than females; Williams got an eight-and-a-half-year sentence for her lies, and yet only 1% of rape cases were prosecuted according to government scorecards last year. So, that’s 99% of cases that don’t end in a conviction.
Inevitably, the movement struggled to deliver.
Williams’ case also brings another ugly truth to light, speaking to the extremely racist and Islamaphobic milieu we occupy, with hundreds of thousands speedily willing to believe in the dangers of an Asian grooming gang. I’m not surprised that her lies went viral at all.
In 2020, when she shared images of her self-administered bruises, the post sparked a global solidarity campaign (with 100,000 members on the Facebook page Justice for Ellie). Just a month before she submitted the post, I wrote an opinion piece for the publication I worked at, decrying exactly these beliefs – arguing that the highly-popularised Rochdale cases do not speak for all Muslim men, as the crimes of the catholic church don’t typify all white, Christian men. Instantly, I was barraged with Islamophobic and misogynistic hate, including death and rape threats.
In the months since its publication, I continued receiving online abuse across several forums, and some even mentioned ‘Ellie’ by name, demanding that I interview her as a genuine victim of an ‘Asian grooming gang’. Williams' lies had very real-life consequences for the Asian community; hate crimes in Barrow, where she lived, tripled that year, South Asian businesses suffered (one said they lost £80,000 worth of custom), another said they’d been chased down the street while being called a ‘p***’.
None of this is in defence of false rape accusers, nor to share sympathy with Wiliams – her extreme actions speak to her vile intentions. But I resent the justice system that continues to fail women, and I worry how cases such as Eleanor Williams’ will embolden those undeterred in their misogynistic beliefs that women are out to ruin men with false reports. Mostly, I lament for the victims of the most heinous crimes who will have another hoop to jump through to make people believe them.
For more information about reporting and recovering from rape and sexual abuse, you can contact Rape Crisis.
If you have been sexually assaulted, you can find your nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre here. You can also find support at your local GP, voluntary organisations such as Rape Crisis, Women's Aid, and Victim Support, and you can report it to the police (if you choose) here.
