Everyday, more and more woman are getting caught and confessing to filing false rape accusations and ruining the lives of innocent men.

Women should be mature, strong and independent, not resort to this kind of deceitful, bitter vindictiveness. Maybe the officials of Wasilla thought the same thing.

If she knew about it, it shows that she doesn't give a shit about violence against women. If she didn't, it shows she couldn't be bothered to pay attention to issues regarding violence against women, showing that she doesn't give a shit. Neither way is forgivable.

And bobbigrl, this is the third time in a few minutes I've seen you blatantly lying. What are you doing on a feminist blog, and why are you hiding behind an anonymous name?

I wonder if Palin and her ilk saw a disincentive to report rape as a pro-life measure. I assume it's easier, socially and possibly legally, for a women who's reported a rape to have an abortion. I wonder if that's part of the equation.

It's interesting that at the end of the segment the reporter says "to qualify for funding under the Violence Against Women Act, law enforcement agencies must now pick up that cost" (of rape kits), but she doesn't mention that VAWA even exists today because of Palin's direct opposite in this election, Joe Biden...

Kate, "And bobbigrl, this is the third time in a few minutes I've seen you blatantly lying"

I'm not lying, False rape accusations, not to mention violent crime in general by women, are all on the rise, even the media can't ignore them anymore (duke lacrosse case, Casey Anthony, the 5 female teens from Lakeland Florida that videotaped themselves beating up a girl from high school, Mary Winkler, etc, etc, etc...).

I'm sorry but female empowerment carries with it both good, and bad, and there are a lot of women today that have a strong sense of entitlement and a "take no prisoners" attitude of contempt and bitterness that says they are going to get retribution and reparations for crimes committed to women in the past when they weren't even alive, and they are hurting the lives of a lot of are wonderful men.

Please be respectful of my point of view.

If Alaska has the highest rates of rapes... Well... Why? Is there some nefarious reason that all these women are reporting rapes? No, I'm being serious! Look into it, bobbigirl. Maybe you'll find something mind blowing and so much more groundbreaking than "Female empowerment has given bitter women a tool" that everyone can use to get to the root of things instead of trying to make us feel guilty about standing up to violence. Maybe there's some strange, twisted cultural stuff under the surface that's making 1 out of 3 women in Alaska, as opposed to the rates elsewhere, accuse a man of raping her. Go, bobbigirl! Your work is needed elsewhere.

bobbigrl,

so, you are saying that all women who claim to be raped should be automatically charged for their own kits? Because that's what it sounds like.

Yes, false accusations do happen, but the real ones are the vast majority, thus they all need to be taken seriously.
Charging victims for their own kits is only going to deter real victims from pressing charges against their rapists. Or are these the "wonderful men" you speak of?

and might I mention, In the Duke case, all charges were dropped. When the players were accused, the police naturally had to invesitgate, and they ultimately decided there wasn't the evidence. If they were falsely accused, I call that the system working.
The real culprits were, thus, the media who are happy to crucify anyone before they've had their day in court, so long as it gets the ratings up.

MLEmac,

"In the Duke case, all charges were dropped". Nice try MLEmac, there lives were made a living hell. They were arrested without any proof or evidence-only a woman's claim(real classy feminists-deny someone there constitutional rights).

"The real culprits were, thus, the media who are happy to crucify anyone before they've had their day in court, so long as it gets the ratings up." No the real culprits are the radical feminists and there protest and lobby groups. Nifong,the prosecutor, was so scared the feminist org's would protest and crucify him if he didn't bring charges.

"When the players were accused, the police naturally had to investigate, and they ultimately decided there wasn't the evidence. If they were falsely accused, I call that the system working."- not good MLEmac, pretty callous. If the tables were turned, I think you would have a tincy wincy different take on it.

This article cites evidence that Palin knew about the rape kits.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-alperinsheriff/sarah-palin-instituted-ra_b_125833.html

You're totally right, bobbigrl. Any GOOD feminist knows that men are really the victims when it comes to rape.

Don't bother engaging with bobbigrl, please. It is clearly a man who is clearly an idiot and who clearly hates women. Do not feed the troll.

BobbiGirl, will you please read some empirical data on rape trials? The exact numbers vary from country to country, but:

1. The percentage of women who make false rape accusations is no bigger than the percentage of false accusations for any other crime.

2. Even when data from rape kits is collected, authorities often fail to investigate the claims.

3. A lot of rapes are not reported to the authorities.

4. The rate of rape conviction is staggeringly low.

5. The questioning of the victim in court is so intrusive that many victims have referred to this process as "like being raped a second time". Also, unless the victim is a child, her character is called into question, while the community often rallies around "our boy(s)". The latter is especially prevalent among young sports stars.

keshmeshi, i was thinking the same thing. my favorite line was "please respect my views." i'm trying to decide whether she means "respect" in the way shiftercat has done, with politely stated facts, or if she means it in the newfound mccain way, where we're simply supposed to take her statements as truth and not question or cast aspersions on her.

an yes, i suspect it could be a woman. when i discussed the rape kit thing with my mom, she defended it as a plausible/ethical way to save money without even batting an eye. my mother is a staunch republican.

brittanypixie,

re: VAWA and Biden - my thoughts exactly! If we're gonna talk about Palin's position as mayor on rape kits and sexual assault survivors, then it should be mentioned that VAWA is the critical legislation that deals with this. I wish the Obama-Biden campaign would talk more about Biden's important role in creating VAWA.

Also, unless the victim is a child, her character is called into question

Apparently that isn't even a given. I remember reading a story on The Curvature where a seven year old girl was accused of "wanting it" b/c it was childish experimentation. I realize this is an Australian case, but I have no doubts if you looked hard enough you could find similar things here in the US. You are never too young to be victim blamed.

Also, the 1 in 3 stat is not exclusive to Alaska. 1 in 3 Native women are victims of sexual and domestic violence in the US, more than twice as likely as any other minority. Samhita is right, there is no way Palin could not have known about this policy. Not in a state w/ such a high Native population.

"Bobbigrl" let me make sure I have this straight: since some women (the vast minority) make false rape accusations, then all rape victims should suffer more?

Do you know that people lie in other investigations as well? People commit arson to their own property for insurance money. So, should all victims of arson have to personally pay for necessary tools in the investigation process? If not, then that's extremely hypocritical. More people make false insurance claims per year than report fake rapes. That's the real epidemic! And what if they arrest someone falsely accused in an arson scam? What about that person's justice? Come to think of it, we should always charge victims for any crime investigation because people lie all the time and it's really hard sometimes to prove it.

Or maybe we should create an entire kind of unit whose job it is to look into stuff like that and see who's really lying. Maybe they can gather clues & evidence to make cases. Maybe they can be funded by the state so that they remain impartial during these periods of finding. Oh wait! They DO have that! They're called the police and that's their job- to figure out who's lying and get as much evidence as they can to prove their theories. They're funded by the government so it's more difficult to tip the scales of justice because you have more money.

If you charge rape victims, or really ANY victim, with paying for their own investigation, not only will you have fewer arrests due to inability to pay (thus, this practice specifically targets the poor and is in favor of the rich.) but you'd have fewer real victims actually coming forward.

The reason you hear so much more about fake reports is because that's what the media focuses on. In reality, they make up less than 1% of all rapes reported yearly. But many people still like to undermine rape victims because their suffering so clearly illustrates the injustice still done to women. I don't usually make it a habit to engage trolls, but you've inspired me.

Back to the Palin issue, I feel like there is a problem either way.

A) She did know about it. The problem there is obvious and stated above.

or

B) She didn't know about it. So in a town that small she was unaware of what was going on under her watch? How is that being a good and effective leader? If she can't be bothered to be aware of what is going on with a constituency of that size, how will she manage if she has the whole of the US to deal with?