[...] we know, after countless examples, that accusations of sexual assault or harassment are often dismissed out of hand and there is often little proof beyond the word of the individuals involved. Standard ideas of burden of proof are insufficient. Beyond that, as individuals we are not bound by legal burdens to determine what we believe and how we will respond. [...]
I try to avoid getting involved in any non-thirsty conversations here, especially ones that involve serious topics like this, but I'm going to have to break that rule and call you out about what you've said here.
As a society, we need to do better at supporting victims of sexual abuse and addressing the root causes proactively so as to stop it from happening. What we do not need to do—no, what we
absolutely should not do—is accept any and all accusations against someone, let alone turn criminal matters over to the court of public opinion.
You can say that it only happens in a minority of cases, but false accusations
do happen, and they ruin lives. Even when the accuser recants, universities refuse to take back students they expelled, jobs refuse to re-hire people they fired, wives refuse to take back husbands they divorced, courts refuse to give back custody of children they took away, and so on. These things happen over lies.
The most fundamental concept in the western justice system is “Innocent until proven guilty”. But between newspapers publishing when someone is arrested (
not convicted) on sexual assault charges, the Internet being full of reactionary morons who want to be at the forefront of an echo chamber no matter whose reputation they trash, and companies having no loyalty to any employee let alone one who is accused of a heinous crime, this whole idea doesn't seem to count anymore.
It's shitty, but accusers
do need to bear the burden of proof, no matter the charge. Otherwise the whole system falls apart.
If you sincerely believe that the current system is 'insufficient', then you need to lobby your politician to take meaningful action to clear the backlog of rape kits and support better sex ed in schools so that people understand not only what is
wrong, but
why and
how it hurts others. What you absolutely should not do is advocate throwing away the basic premise of our justice system.