False allegations of rape are rare – rape itself is not. It’s understandable, then, that instances of the former are more likely to hit the headlines than the latter.

Why report on a phenomenon that is commonplace, affecting an estimated 85,000 women in England and Wales every year? Rape isn’t news. By contrast, criminal convictions for lying about rape, such as the 10-year sentence handed down to Jemma Beale, command our attention precisely because they are unusual.

Twenty five-year-old Beale, found guilty of four counts of perjury and four of perverting the course of justice, has made international news, with headlines describing her as “attention-seeking” and “a serial liar”. It’s hard not to detect the sense of relief that accompanies the sharing of reports on Beale’s crime.

“See?” the sharers seem to be saying. “We told you women lied about this stuff!” As the comedian Reginald D Hunter tweeted yesterday, “for people who question why we question, here ya’ go”.

Feminist protests demand end to violence against women in Brazil after gang rape of teenage girl Show all 10 1 /10 Feminist protests demand end to violence against women in Brazil after gang rape of teenage girl Feminist protests demand end to violence against women in Brazil after gang rape of teenage girl Brazilian women march in Sao Paulo during a protest following the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl Rex Features Feminist protests demand end to violence against women in Brazil after gang rape of teenage girl There have been calls for protests to end to what campaigners call Brazil's 'culture of rape' after the attack Rex Features Feminist protests demand end to violence against women in Brazil after gang rape of teenage girl An online campaign has been set up in response to the crime, using the hashtag #EstuproNuncaMais, meaning 'rape never again' Rex Features Feminist protests demand end to violence against women in Brazil after gang rape of teenage girl The 16-year-old victim was attacked in a poor neighbourhood in the west of the city on 21 May 2016 Rex Features Feminist protests demand end to violence against women in Brazil after gang rape of teenage girl Two of the attackers posted pictures and video on Twitter of the assault, which has shocked the country Rex Features Feminist protests demand end to violence against women in Brazil after gang rape of teenage girl Brazilian women protest in front of the Candelaria Church in Rio de Janeiro AFP/Getty Images Feminist protests demand end to violence against women in Brazil after gang rape of teenage girl Seven men have been charged in connection with the attack AFP/Getty Images Feminist protests demand end to violence against women in Brazil after gang rape of teenage girl Women's underwear and photos from Brazilian photographer Marcio Freitas displayed on Copacabana beach during a protest by non-governmental organization Rio de Paz (Rio of Peace) against rape and violence against women REUTERS Feminist protests demand end to violence against women in Brazil after gang rape of teenage girl Women's underwear smeared with paint is seen during a protest against rape and violence against women in Brasilia, Brazil REUTERS Feminist protests demand end to violence against women in Brazil after gang rape of teenage girl Demonstrators attend a protest against rape and violence against women in Brasilia, Brazil REUTERS

Passing sentence, Judge Nicholas Lorraine-Smith argued that “these false allegations of rape, false allegations which will inevitably be widely publicised, are likely to have the perverse impact of increasing the likelihood of guilty men going free.”

Having duly undermined women’s faith in the justice system, Lorraine-Smith went on to claim that “cases such as this bring a real risk that a woman who has been raped or sexually assaulted may not complain to the police for fear of not being believed.”

He’s right, of course. Every time a woman sees members of the judiciary and the press treating the conviction of one woman as damaging to the credibility of all women, she wonders what hope she might have of ever being believed.

It doesn’t matter that thousands upon thousands of rapists lie about rape without a single judge opining on how damaging this is to the real victims of false accusers. Beale must stand, potentially, for all women who accuse any man of rape, because that’s what the rape culture narrative demands. If Beale didn’t exist, the patriarchy would have to invent her (and most of the time it does).

Like most women, I cringe when I read of the actions of someone such as Beale. I despair at the fact that her conviction will be used as “proof” that rape is something about which women routinely lie, almost as though on a whim.

I don’t, however, believe that this is inevitable, or that women in general should feel any shame. Beale must be punished for what she has done, but that does not include “increasing the likelihood of guilty men going free”. No, Judge Lorraine-Smith. That’s on men like you, for reinforcing the idea that one very unusual case should have repercussions for victims of a far more common crime.

That 99 per cent of convicted sex offenders are male does not mean that most males are sex offenders. Nevertheless, it does indicate a connection between the construction of masculinity and sexual entitlement. Alas, it’s a connection that is so longstanding and so ingrained that it has become “just the way things are”. The maleness of sex offending is unremarkable, therefore it goes unremarked.

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A woman lying about rape, on the other hand, is not “just the way things are”. There’s no common pattern of women inventing tales of rape in order to live a life of “bogus victimhood”. Yet when one woman does this, all women are expected to pay the price. I, for one, refuse to.

If there were thousands of Beales out there, there’s little doubt in my mind that we’d know about it. But there aren’t. Right now there’s only one, which is why we know her name. Meanwhile the names of most rapists will be forgotten (if they’re ever known at all).