I don’t want to be one of those guys who laments how society has fallen so far into the abyss that we can hardly see the light sometimes, but this is one of those instances where something needs to be said.

Let me start by saying that rape is one of the most horrible things a human being can experience on this planet. I know several people, namely women, who have been raped. It’s something none of them would wish on their worst enemy, and it’s easy to understand why. This is the most intimate, private part of you being taken away from you, used, and discarded like so much waste. It’s traumatic, scarring, and it changes you forever.

But due to 3rd wave feminism, and the social justice movement, rape has gone from being an atrocity that should be met with the harshest sentences and derision, to being something akin to an accessory you wear.

Being a rape victim has become cool since the feminist victimization trend has reached a peak. It got so bad that the social justice narrative drivers needed there to be more rapes on the books. Ashe Schow of the Washington Examiner reported on two Universities where activists were dismayed that the national 1 in 5 college sexual assault statistic wasn’t being represented in the actual figures put forth by the school.

Schow reports that both Albany and Stanford Universities were somewhat perplexed at the low numbers of sexual assault and rape, even with the atmosphere geared toward accuser-friendly questioning. The woman tasked with documenting these cases in Albany even sought to find students responsible, not find the truth. Something even the Education Department found to be a conflict of interest.

Examples of it being cool to be a rape victim can be harked back to the episodes of “Mattress Girl.” Emma Sulkowicz was a student at Columbia University who accused a fellow student of raping her one night, and as a show of protest for her University not booting him, she carried the mattress she was allegedly raped on around with her everywhere she went. The problem with her story is that it’s very, very likely false, as Cathy Young has pointed out.

Regardless, Sulkowicz used her newfound fame as a “rape survivor” to push her social justice causes, and not just about rape or sexual assault, but subjects such as the Israel/Palestine conflict. Meanwhile the accused was put through hell, as well as some of the college faculty.

Sulkowicz used her spotlight to give speeches that promoted believing accusers without evidence, and that proof is somehow bad.

Mattress girl’s speech looks awfully similar to the ravings of a lunatic. pic.twitter.com/vYrh33bZ8Y

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) April 27, 2015

She even went so far as to make a hardcore porn where she recreated her rape, and left this message before the video on the page, essentially saying that those who disagree with her are participating in her rape.

Emma Sulkowicz (mattress girl) is certifiably insane. There is zero doubt now. pic.twitter.com/1W2eawUCxj — Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) June 5, 2015

But what mattress girl, and those like her showed the world, is that rape accusers have power. Once you don the moniker of “rape survivor,” you’re shielded from many public criticisms, which opens avenues of sympathetic compliance. Everything you do to combat anything at this point is done so because you were the victim of one of the most heinous crimes, and thus your positioning comes from a point of ultimate goodness and righteousness.

In short, you become untouchable. Anyone who stands athwart you, or simply questions you, do so out of motivation stemming from something dark and sinister.

The concept caught like wildfire. Soon you had Tumblrites and online activists becoming rape victims like kernels become popcorn in a kettle. You didn’t actually even need to be raped in an real sense. Even if you had sex you regret after the fact, you were raped. If you and a friend – both drunk – had sex while intoxicated, then you were raped. Even one girl went so far as to make a YouTube video saying that she’s raped every time something negative happens to a woman.

The trend became pervasive enough that celebrities began jumping on board. Progressive left darling, Lena Dunham, described in her book that she was raped by a conservative guy named “Barry,” and specifically giving his job title at the college and more. Barry was soon found, and he was forced to shut down all social media, and had to crowd source all his legal fees since he wasn’t exactly wealthy.

Dunham’s story soon fell apart, and while Dunham’s publisher, Random House, is paying for Barry’s legal fees, the damage has been done. Dunham meanwhile has made a hefty sum from the books, and hasn’t so much as flinched about the whole ordeal save to say it was unfortunate.

Another SJW favorite, Amy Schumer, said that her first sexual experience wasn’t consensual, and that she experienced it again with a boyfriend later. To her credit, Schumer never uses the term “rape” when talking about her experiences, but this at the height of the “me too” rape victim outing.

Other celebs came forward suddenly revealing they too were raped at some point in their lives. Some of them may be telling the truth, some of them may be lying, but none of them – that I can tell – have proof. This doesn’t matter, though. Having been raped had become a trendy thing to have been done to you.

We see reports now of girls claiming they’ve been raped, and ripping apart the lives of innocent people in order to achieve the status they’re looking for. Horror stories of men locked up after false accusations, families ripped apart, lost jobs, and suicides after lives were destroyed pepper my news feeds daily.

You can get a clear image of what happens to those falsely accused from the famous debunked Rolling Stone gang rape story. One man, after enduring the devastating effects of a false rape accusation, created a support website for others who are going through, or have been through, the nightmare that unfolds after these things happen.

The point of this is, when there isn’t even rape, there are still victims. Being a victim might be trendy, but it’s not like JNCO jeans, or the emo phase of the early aughts. This is an actual, real life atrocity that must be taken very seriously, because the person accused is going to have his life put through the ringer, innocent or not. This trend that should never have become one, is ruining lives.

That’s why we as a society shouldn’t take the advice of the social justice, feminist narrative that rape accusers should just be believed. We as a society should not be ashamed to demand proof when such an accusation is thrown out. Furthermore, we as a society should not be afraid to hand out harsh punishments to those who falsely accuse innocent people of rape for whatever gain they figure they were in for when they did it.

We are a country that respects that you’re innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around. While Universities may have done away with due process in so many cases when it comes to rape accusations, we as a country cannot go down that road.

Standing for this will net you accusations of supporting rapists, or victim-blaming, but the fact of the matter is that you’re standing for the rule of law, and fair play to the innocent. Our system is there to stop us from caving into hysterics, and giving over to witch hunts that do more harm than good.

Crowder recently released a video regarding this subject, that sums this all up very nicely.