So on the way home yesterday I listened to Talk of the Nation, the topic was How the Justice System Fails Rape Victims. Neal Conan’s primary guests were a woman who has been a detetective dealing with sexual assault for 30 years and a female District Attorney who has been active in teaching other DA’s nation-wide how to approach sexual assault prosecution. It was very interesting.

Of course he invited anyone to call specifically anyone who worked with sexual assault victims or was one and wanted to share their experience. There were some interesting calls, one from an EMT who said he often goes into situations were he suspects a rape has taken place but victims are afraid, for whatever reason, to report it. Of course there were the heartbreaking calls from old and young women who had been assaulted talking about their experiences in the justice system.

Overall a good show. But then. But then. First an email. The email (from a man, of course) felt the need to lecture Neal Conan and the guests for not addressing the issue of women who make false rape claims. Said email actually used the phrase, “we’re not even five years out from the Duke rape case” like that’s some hugely important social marker that changed all our lives and really made us re-think all the POWER we hand to rape victims in this society. My blood pressure started to rise. Followed right on the heels of that was a call (from a man, surprise!) who expressed concern that rape victims were not being referred to as “alleged rape victims” and we have a presumption of innocence in this country! The DA shot that bullshit down pretty quick but not before this waste of human life bloviated on and on about how, “he certainly understands what women go through, he has a wife and daughters, but really we need to uphold the standard of presumption of innocence.” Followed by a third email restating again this “what about the MENZ!” bullshit. That the panel had to address for the third time, each time getting a little more fed up and angry.

And that’s how the remaining 15 minutes of a 39 minute show entitled, Many Rape Victims Say the Justice System Still Fails Them, devolved into a completely different show I’ll call, “Hi We’re Men and it’s Always All About Our Fears of Being Held Accountable for Assaulting Women. Please Reassure Us You’re on Our Side.”

I’m mad at Talk of the Nation for letting that happen. That wasn’t “debate” that was trolling.