Rape

Pacific Standard looks at the evidence about people who make false accusations of rape, and how to get the best information during sexual assault cases.

• By Francie Diep

A small town in northern Minnesota is paving the way for police departments in their efforts to process and mitigate huge backlogs of untested rape kits.

• By Ashley Hackett

Considering a new anthology of stories about rape culture—and two other anthologies about how to end it.

• By Rebecca Stoner

In South Sudan's civil war, rape is wielded as a weapon. Despite dangerous stigma, some South Sudanese women are speaking out.

• By Cassandra Vinograd

Dr. Denis Mukwege has become a pioneer in both gynecological surgery and bringing global awareness to the issue of how rape is used as a weapon of war.

• By Fabíola Ortiz & Megan Clement

The law, known as the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, includes exceptions for cases of rape, incest, or risk to the mother's life.

• By Kate Wheeling

The Mexican government says it’s taking steps to protect women from sexual violence in public. Why aren’t they working?

• By Michelle Threadgould

The Chinatown director has, yet again, found refuge in a European country—despite the ascendant right-wing government’s brief show of judicial muscle.

• By Katie Kilkenny

Research shows only a small number of rape allegations are actually false, so why are the police so hard to convince otherwise?

• By Kate Wheeling

A look at whether smartphone assistants know to recognize and respond when their owners are in acute distress.

• By Francie Diep

The only way past the victim-blaming and conspiracy theories is a proper lexicon for talking about rape. But competing definitions encourage skepticism—and silence.

• By Stephanie Auteri

Pacific Standard sits down to talk with Chauntelle Tibbals.

• By Madeleine Thomas

A new report highlights the troubling reality of sexual assault for men in the military.

• By Madeleine Thomas

New research finds the long-running series conveys healthy messages regarding sexual consent. CSI, not so much.

• By Tom Jacobs

For roughly 30 years the FBI has virtually ignored a system meant to help cops track the behavioral patterns of violent criminals.

• By T. Christian Miller

The proportion of young American adults who hold untrue and harmful beliefs about rape victims has declined since the 1970s, but not by as much as you might think.

• By Francie Diep

Whether it's the KKK's plans to protest the removal of the Confederate flag or Donald Trump's controversial commentary on Latino men, professor and critic Salamishah Tillet writes we should pay more attention to how little the rhetoric around rape has changed.

• By Salamishah Tillet

They say it's about “values.” That's a very easy way of skirting the question.

• By Ted Scheinman

A new study finds 18 percent reported suffering a rape or rape attempt during their first 12 months at a major university.

• By Tom Jacobs

In North Dakota’s oil boomtowns, rape, sex trafficking, and domestic violence rates are spiking, with American Indian women suffering the most. Now tribes along the Keystone XL pipeline route worry that the violence could be headed their way—and tribal police may be unable to stop it.

• By A.C. Shilton

PSAs are failing sexual assault victims by making women bear the blame.

• By Max Ufberg

There's not a lot of research about this, but the science that does exist suggests yes.

• By Francie Diep

Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints church doctrine says that victims of sexual abuse are not guilty of sexual sin, but there’s a far different story playing out on the ground, where bishops are making women repent for their own rapes.

• By Phoenix Tso

The conservative columnist is peddling a toxic fantasy. Some people are buying.

• By Ted Scheinman