, Columnist
What We Don't Know About False Claims of Rape
The best studies don't say what activists think they say.
Who's buying, and should it matter?
Photographer: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesRape statistics are a mess.
Rape is at the center of the national debate, and it's no wonder: the Obama administration's push to crack down on campus rapes through the Civil Rights Act, the notorious and retracted story alleging a gang rape at UVA, the raft of accusations against Bill Cosby. Naturally, statistics about rape have been an important part of this conversation. Unfortunately, these statistics are hard to agree upon; what you get is a duel between conflicting sets of numbers, which should be resolved by careful analysis but instead leads each side to turn up the volume and wave its favored research harder.