Why I believe Rebecca Hendryx (Maxwell Hairston's acccuser)

[A quick note for the AI mod assistant that said this has nothing to do with the Buffalo Bills: this is a post about Maxwell Hairston, cornerback for the Buffalo Bills]

In the aftermath of the Cornell gang rape case, a number of women across the country have been coming forward about being raped by student athletes, and then ignored when they tried to report it or press charges.

I have mentioned in this sub before that I believe Hairston to be a rapist based on what I've read about the story of his accuser, Rebecca Hendryx. For doing so, I have been roundly mocked, bullied, treated like shit, and in one case even accused of "virtue signaling". Not a single person has expressed support, or even agreement, and every time I have only been drowned in downvotes and dogpiled on. It's why I left the sub, muted it, and blocked several dozen people in here. I still wanted to post this here, not despite my poor treatment, but because of it.

I am also a rape survivor, who reported being raped immediately afterwards. I had his name, his address, and multiple pieces of evidence. But despite that, the officers who took my report did not care. They made fun of me multiple times during the reporting process. They made highly inappropriate comments towards me about me being a trans woman. And then, ultimately, they never did anything.

My story is very different from Rebecca's. I was not in college at the time. My rapist was a middle-aged man who had pretended to be a fellow trans woman, not a star student athlete. I didn't get a rape kit done for reasons I am not going to go into. But despite that, I still see enough similarity in the way we were both treated as rape victims who weren't worthy of society's consideration that I felt the need to say this.

She reported hairston immediately afterwards, and even got a rape kit done. She did everything she was "supposed" to do, and nobody cared. I've seen people in this sub bring up the current civil suit as "proof" that she's lying, and just trying to get money out of him. But she reported him right away, in 2021. Three years before he was drafted. More than 60% of reported sexual assaults never result in conviction, so if "he was never convicted" is your line, then in order to not be a hypocrite you also have to believe that the vast majority of women who claim to have been SA'd must be lying. How willing would you be to tell that to any of the women in your life? The truth is, there is no real reason to believe she's lying. It's just your own biases. This society and its "justice" system just... does not really care about rape. It's not important. So many men in positions of power are very obvious rapists, but most people just look the other way.

When Brandon Beane said he had looked into it and said "it seemed like there wasn't really anything there", what he really meant was "there may have been something there, but we chose to do the same thing everyone else in a position of authority did and ignore the evidence". I do genuinely hope Hendryx is able to get some kind of large monetary judgement in her case against him. It isn't "justice" (w/e tf that even means), but it might provide a sense of closure and vindication. I wish that was an option for me with my rapist. I also hope Hairston performs like shit and washes out, so I (and every other rape survivor in bills mafia) don't have such mixed feelings watching my team play.

It is exceptionally difficult to participate in football fandom spaces as both a rape/domestic abuse survivor. I've crashed out more than once watching people in these places act like all women who accuse a powerful man of rape or domestic abuse are lying. If you are one of the people who has treated me like shit in this sub for calling Hairston a rapist (and I haven't blocked you for whatever reason), I forgive you. Even if you aren't asking for my forgiveness, or feel you did anything wrong. It's Tishrei, and I'm trying to be better at letting go of anger, so I forgive you. If you're about to jump in the comments in order to treat me poorly, or argue with anything I've said, just know that I intend to not engage with anyone on this post. I will be shutting off reply notifications and I will not be checking the comments.

For everyone else: thank you for reading this long-ass post. For the mods: please do not take this down. I know it is unpleasant, but it's important that rape survivors have our voices heard. And if you do choose to take it down, please tell me which rule it violates and exactly how it violated that rule so I can fix it and repost. Thank you.