CMV: A rape victim's account had better be consistent, or else we're perfectly in the right to disbelieve them.

I understand that rape victims are often unwilling to speak out about their situation for reasons such as reliving the trauma, public shaming, disbelief by law enforcement. I understand that holding them accountable for false accusations may result in a chilling effect on reporting. I understand that memories of traumatic events may not be all that reliable, and that it is not the victim's fault.

But here's the problem I'm seeing. You say that we should listen to the women who claim they were raped. But when their retelling of events proves inconsistent, you say to give them a pass because memory from traumatic experiences is unreliable. But their memory of the rape ever happening is itself a memory of a traumatic experience. So which will it be? Either we can trust your memory, or we cannot. Either we should believe you, or we should not. Make up your mind, or we just won't believe you.

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