If Jackie were trying to get attention, if the rape were something that she lied about to get Ryan to like her more than he already did, it failed. Why would she then not try to move past the lie as soon as she could, in every part of her life? The end of her friendship with Ryan, as documented by their texts, was not initiated by Jackie, but she respected that he didn't want to maintain contact with her.
People who really like to lie, who do it a lot for personal gain, do not like to continue to invest in a lie that has failed. Their ability to continue to use other people depends on their plausibility and being attractive to prospective lures.
That doesn't describe Jackie, and it particularly doesn't describe someone whose goal is attention at a prestigious school like the University of Virginia.
She got very depressed after the assault, stopped working and stopped going to class; that is not what someone whose image is everything to her does at a school where achievement is admired.
She went to a psychiatrist; that is also not something that someone who wants to be able to lie to other people and never be thought of as having anything other than a perfect life does.
She took the antidepressant that the psychiatrist prescribed for her. The medication made her gain weight; there is no college student who wants to be overweight.
She didn't try to get an appointment with Dean Eramo; she was referred to Dean Eramo's office by another school administrator who had asked Jackie about her bad grades. She'd never had bad grades until after the rape. If Jackie were a liar who hadn't gotten assaulted, she would have tried to get out of Dean Eramo's office as soon as possible. Why would she talk to Dean Eramo for months and risk a school investigation proving that she wasn't telling the truth? She couldn't know that there wasn't going to be an investigation, or that every force would mobilize to protect the rapists and discredit her.
Why would she join a rape survivor support and advocacy group if she wasn't telling the truth, especially knowing that her former friends had the Haven Monahan story to tell?
There are so many student groups and organizations at the University of Virginia that nobody could join them all; most colleges have nonscholastic things for students to do. The University of Virginia's website says that there are over 15,000 undergraduate students who live at the school during the school year. There were all sorts of things for her to do and people for her to meet, if she weren't traumatized.
Jackie never had a reason to lie about being assaulted. Sexual assault is stigmatizing to the victim, for a lot of people. It shouldn't be, but it is.
Copyright L. Kochman, with noted exceptions, July 8, 2016 @ 7:30 p.m.
