@phoneboy Indeed so. Sidestepping the initial topic for a moment, though it's slow going over here in the UK, the powers-that-be are attempting to shift definitions of an offence from the obvious (bruises, bloody noses, broken limbs etc.) to whether the person the offence had been committed against believes there was malicious intent.
It's easier to apply this reasoning to verbal abuse such as is more prevalent now in the UK & USA post-Brexit-vote & post-GOP-and-Trump elections. Being empowered by local cultures it's more obvious that nastiness is on the rise. But it's more difficult to prove an offence took place when the perception of the victim that abuse took place is the only evidence, and evidence tenuous at that. It happens everywhere though, through the casual racism of banter with colleagues, servers, food delivery people, and right up to, well…
Physical violence, rape, yeah, easier to prove that something happened, easier to gather that evidence, but until there's a massive change in the way the crimes are processed, and a move away from 'he said vs she said' it'll be difficult to increase even awareness. It's understandable, only to the point that malicious allegations wreck lives.
Those numbers do indeed look too high, but that's masking something fundamentally wrong with our societies; a lack of belief that a young woman can go out to enjoy herself without a young man's expectations being ruined.
Expectations my arse!
A sideshow link follows, as I'm about to get more annoyed than I should, and I'm unable to do anything about this.
http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/uk_58d4cf55e4b02a2eaab254a4
// @matigo @skematica @jasonechols