Is it sad that my first thought at seeing the headline was to assume she was one more person falling on their sword after sexual assault accusations?
What a world.
replies(3):
What a world.
We're in the midst of the storm just now... In the last 48 hours we've seen Charlie Rose implode and Pelosi call for investigations of Conyers. In the last few hours John Lasseter ended up in the spotlight and got LOA-ed out of Disney. It's too early yet, but at some point an accuser will emerge with provably false claims against a popular and sympathetic figure and the worm will turn.
It's just the way of things.
Only two of the scandals involve recently disclosed assaults.
So, maybe it will happen as you say. I predict it won't be widespread. There will likely be another Duke, but it'll be isolated.
AFAIK there's a well-known phenomenon of victims later being friendly with their attackers. In general, it doesn't disprove the allegation (I don't know the details about Franken).
Based on my poor knowledge of it (and in the absence so far of anyone who knows more), it comes from the desperate need for safety by traumatized people (i.e., those in the fight / flight / freeze state), any way they can get it. That includes by later trying to placate their attackers and checking if the attacker is friendly (or safe). Remember, often attackers are someone the victims previously knew and trusted and then that trust was horribly violated, leaving the victim feeling utterly defenseless (i.e., dependent on the attacker's good will).