False allegation of rape [trigger warning]

ETA : Resolved in post #8.

I just wanted to run this one past everyone here and see what you think...

In the WIP I have two races, mainlanders and pirates, who are at war. The heroine is a half-breed who lives and works on the mainland, passing as one of them. When a colleague of hers finds out, he attacks her, saying that that's not so much murder as it is stamping on a cockroach. She manages to escape and stows away on the hero's ship.

When the hero discovers her, he's not too pleased. She's terrified that if he finds out exactly what happened to her, he'll throw her overboard (he's in the navy, fighting the pirates), so she tells him that she escaped from a man who was trying to rape her. Since her clothes are torn and she looks shell-shocked, he's half inclined to believe her.

My question is, given what a hot-button issue rape, let alone false accusations of rape, can be, might readers lose sympathy for the heroine at this point? Just to provide a little more info, the colleague who attacked her is never actually accused of rape, because a few days later she tells the hero the truth. If it's a problem, I could have her say she escaped from someone trying to rob her, but she's such a mess that the hero knows something more serious happened. She just doesn't want to say it was attempted murder.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

WillSauger said:

Two problems that I see:

- Why would she lie and say she was almost raped? Couldn't she just say that someone was going to kill her? Is there certain reasons why she won't say someone tried to kill her? Why swap out attempted murder for attempted rape?

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She'd have to give a reason for why someone would try to kill her, whereas she wouldn't have to explain why someone might try to rape her.

And, why not have that man try to rape her? (Mindset of: Rape, then kill) Then it's not a false allegation; it's real.

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He's disgusted by her. If he could kill her without having to touch her, he'd do it. Plus, I'd rather not have to deal with the effects of even attempted rape.

Is a false claim that bad? She's trying to protect herself rather than to get anyone into trouble, and since the ship has already left by the time she's discovered, nothing happens to her colleague. I was really hoping no one would think I was trying to cast aspersions on claims of rape by having her lie about this.

I thought about this and you guys made great points.

Plus, the hero's going to be angry enough when he finds out she's a half-breed. If he thinks she tried to manipulate him into being concerned and chivalrous and protective (which is how he'd likely feel if he thought she was almost raped), it's going to be worse.

At the same time, though, I do want the possibility of rape to come up, because as ajaye said, that might reasonably be assumed if a woman's in torn clothes and doesn't want to talk. So he's going to ask if that happened, and she considers letting him think so, because she knows there'll be a whole lot less 'splainin to do under those circumstances.

But she reluctantly says no, that's not what happened. Partly because she'd be agreeing with a false claim, which as you guys said, might lose reader sympathy. And partly because she's always wondered if that was how she was conceived, so she doesn't even want to think about it happening to her.

I also managed to come up with a semi-plausible story she could give him instead.

So thank you all for the feedback and for steering me clear of a bad choice. Much appreciate all your help and honesty.