In real life, most rapists get away their crimes and rarely go to prison. Yet, in our favorite books, movies, and series, we often see a male character who is wrongly accused by a lying woman. When we, as viewers, as readers, have repeated experiences where our empathy is directed to innocent men, how we view reality is filtered through this skewed lens.

Right now, I’m watching Youth on HBO, Sharon Hogan’s new series. She plays Alex, a literary agent, and for the most part I like the show. Like pretty much everything. Hogan does, it’s witty. Alex is the mom of Rauri, an awkward kid who’s in his freshman year at Uni. Rauri leaves school suddenly because he’s ostracized, shamed, and humiliated and called a pervert because he and a girl he likes had a sexual encounter. She regrets the event and has blamed him for it. As a viewer, our empathy is with Rauri and his mom.

Rauri even has a speech about how hard it is to be a male:

“I hate being a man. You have to be strong, but not too strong, ’cause then you’re an alpha. And if you’re an alpha, you’re toxic. And if you’re toxic, just, girls fucking hate you. But if we try and express our feelings, we’re weak and needy. If you send flowers to a girl, we’re just love-bombing her. If we can’t get it up, then we’re broken.”

To me, this sounds like a riff on the famous speech by America Ferrera in the Barbie movie, but it’s made by a white male who does not experience systemic power dynamics of misogyny and sexism! When I heard it, I felt annoyed. And it also seemed like I was supposed to continue to feel empathy for him and for Alex as his mother because her son was suffering.

This scene got me thinking about how many times, as a viewer, as a reader, my empathy is directed to the male protagonist who is so often, it seems, in the fictional world, wrongly accused of sexual assault and rape.

In real life, only 2% of males are wrongly accused. Yet, as consumers of narratives, so many of us are used to rooting for victims of evil women. I’m also watching East of Eden, another series I really like, and feeling so bad for Charles when Cathy seduces his brother. Cathy uses her sexuality to hurt men. Directed by Zoe Kazan, this version presents Cathy not so much as bad seed but a survivor of trauma, in her family and in the wider culture. Kazan has cut the scene from the book where a child Cathy fasley accuses two 14 year old boys of rape.

Please help me track books, series, and movies where sympathetic males are falsely accused of rape. I’d like to focus on white males falsely accused because the misogyny isn’t blended with the racism. In To Kill a Mockingbird, there is a false accusation and in that case, this lie illuminates how black men are treated.

The reason this is important to track is because when we see a case like what’s happening at Cornell, a woman saying she was gang raped, our experience of not trusting the woman has happened so many times to each of us; stories influence everyone, from the Bible to Greek mythology to Steinbeck to…

Just beginning the list to get this up now:

1. Movies

1. The Hunt (2012)

A teacher is falsely accused of sexually abusing a young child. The accusation spreads through his small community, destroying his relationships and reputation. One of the strongest examples of this theme.

2. Atonement (2007)

Robbie Turner is falsely accused of raping a young woman by a girl whose misunderstanding and subsequent lie help destroy his life. Based on Ian McEwan’s novel of the same name.

3. Wild Things (1998)

A high-school guidance counselor is accused of rape by two female students. The plot involves deception and an elaborate scheme, although the counselor is not simply an innocent victim, so this is a complicated example.

4. The Crush (1993)

A teenage girl becomes obsessed with an adult man who rejects her advances and tries to ruin his life, including through a false accusation of sexual misconduct.

6. Freeze Frame (2004)

A man whose life has already been shaped by a wrongful accusation becomes the subject of another accusation of rape. The film explores paranoia, public suspicion, and the struggle to establish innocence.

2. Television series

1. Clickbait (2021)

A man becomes the focus of a viral online scandal involving serious allegations. It explores digital judgment, manipulated narratives, and how quickly the public can decide someone is guilty. The sexual-assault theme is not an exact match throughout.

3. Books