What protects a guy against a false rape accusation?

Almost all the answers here are referring to the Western World. In India, the story is different. A woman's word that you raped her, is enough to land you in prison for a day at the very least, until you get bail. Then, the burden of proof remains on the accused(that is, on the man) to prove that he did not rape her. The court relies on the sole testimony of the woman. There are several laws in the country which are enormously anti-men, especially the anti-dowry law in which a husband's whole family can be put in jail, if a woman says that she was harassed by her in-laws or by her husband. And bear in mind, that she does not need to provide a shred of evidence to back up what she is saying. What I am implying is, a woman's word is as good as a conviction. In short, the answer to your question is, nothing protects a man against a false rape accusation in India. There was a case some time back, where a businessman was arrested for raping a girl at the behest of an IAS officer. Later it turned out that the girl was in cahoots with the IAS and had connived with him to trap the businessman. Even policemen in India claim they are helpless in such cases. If they do not make an arrest then the media will bay for their blood and self-styled human activist groups will stage a protest. Feminist groups will demand the rapists' head. In fact, if you are falsely accused of rape, rest assured your life will be a misery unless you strike a bargain with the girl(here, bargain means giving her what she wants, which, in most cases, is money). If a false rape accused is tried in court, he can be sure that he will get a prison term. Also, if you promise marriage to a woman and have sex with her, but due to some reason, you fall apart, she can take you to court under the pretext of "rape by false promise of marriage". That is, she can accuse you of rape on the flimsy pretext of not marrying but having sex with her. High courts have raised the concern that this provision is misused by female friends to settle a vendetta with their male friends. I would like you to read . It is a description of what is meted out to men if they are so unfortunate to attract a girls wrath. Also, read this .

Don’t have sex on a college campus.

Either you're flamebaiting, or you've been hanging around too many misogynists. I'll let this infographic tell the other side's story: This idea that women are crazy and evil and will get you arrested by falsely accusing you of raping them is an absurd, utterly unrealistic, and idiotic fantasy. There is an insignificant percentage who do, yes, because there is always an insignificant percentage of psychopaths who exhibit this kind of psychotic behavior. But when it comes to rape, we have a much, much harder time holding actual rapists accountable for their actions. As a man, the scales are already tipped severely in your favor, even if you are actually guilty of rape. And, obviously, an accusation without evidence will never lead to a conviction.

The number one way to not be falsely accused of rape is to not put oneself in a position where it is even possible that such an accusation could hold up in court.  This means not having sex with women whom you don't know and trust, and ensuring that there is some objective and provable history of a relationship between the two that you could use to instill reasonable doubt in the mind of a jury if you were accused of such a crime.

It is not just in India that the law is anti men and totally unjust. an accused man is arrested, handcuffed and thrown into a cell having been accused of a crime he may know nothing about.....often long after the supposed rape occurred.  A great landslide of help, counselling and sympathy surrounds the alleged victim but nothing is available to the man falsely accused of a crime akin to murder.   He faces depression, stress, the horror and sometimes rejection of his partner/spouse and family.   He has his name made public if he faces trial while the lying accuser is granted anonymity and showered with sympathy. Even after being found innocent his life is radically changed and ruined.   The perpetrator of this ruin should be sentenced to the prison term she sought to inflict on her male victim.   It happens too often and the British "justice" system encourages and promotes this scandal.   With the sharp increase in female alcoholic excess has come an increase in false rape accusations and the justice system has not the intelligence or insight to recognise this but simply changes the law to enable these vindictive and unstable women to ruin the lives of innocent men.

In India, no. Currently the atmosphere here is charged with an anti-men sentiment, after the Delhi gang rape incident that made international headlines. It makes sense for a man to simply pay up the girl and close the matter of false accusation. Most importantly, the rape law in India is not gender neutral. Only woman can be the victim, and only man can be the perpetrator. In the language of Indian Law: If the woman says that there was no consent to sex, it shall be presumed that there was no consent. It is shocking to even think of the implications of such atrociously worded laws. The onus is on the accused to prove his innocence. This violates the fundamental foundation of any law - innocent unless proven guilty. There could be, and have been, serious repercussions of taking a woman's testimony at face value. All-women police stations are spread across the southern part of India, with an agenda of harassing hapless men. You will laugh (and cringe) when you read the reasons why the women police arrest men - sometimes they whisk him away during his wedding for refusing to marry another girl with who he had consensual sex. It seems women police here get sadistic pleasure by wielding their power and harassing men.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_innocence . To convict the person of rape, the prosecution should prove beyond reasonable doubt their version of event. If it is just "her word against his" with nothing collaborating her words or destroying your story, even if convicted the higher court will overturn the jury's verdict on appeal. If you are too concerned that you can be jailed for no fault of your own, just follow several basic rules: "No" means "no", whatever else she does or says. It doesn't matter what she said before, who initiated the contact, how naked she already is etc. - you stop. If she didn't mean it, or she changed her mind, she will tell you that very clearly (happened to me). If she is drunk or on drugs, leave her alone, especially if you are sober. Or better call her a taxi - women only service if available. If she is into you, she will tell you that the next day. The same goes if she is in the state of emotional distress, or vulnerable in any other way. Talk to her in a cafe or walk in the park. If she insists, don't hesitate to refuse and explain that you'll be happy to have sex with her when she is back to her senses. Women love men who show that degree of control. Get to know the woman. All these stories about pick-ups in bars or on the street - crap. Quality, truly satisfying relationships are always between people who know each other. Sex is what happening between two people, not between two bodies - look past the body, look for a person. Follow these rules, and you'll not only alleviate your fears, but also become better, happier and more sexually desired man. Take it from a 50yo man who is happily married, yet got hit on by much younger women in the local supermarket. Really, the risk for a woman to be raped is by several orders of magnitude higher than for you to be wrongfully imprisoned, unless you specifically chase drunk girls in vulnerable state of mind (which can be rape in some jurisdictions), or wicked bitches playing weird games.

In the US, an accusation of rape is still a brutally emotionally wrenching experience for the woman.  She will be accused of anything from leading the man on, wearing provocative clothes, asking for sex, deserving what she got, being immoral, being a whore or slut, sleeping with other men, too intoxicated, etc. In the US, a rape trial will attack the woman. Most actual rapes go unreported and undocumented.  False accusations are going to be rare unless a woman is very unstable mentally.  This is what protects men from false accusations. "Myth: Most people report rape or sexual assault to the police. Fact: The truth is that rape and sexual assault are two of the most underreported crimes in our society. Estimates show that between 50–90% of rapes go unreported. Factoring unreported rapes together with the odds of an arrest being made and the chances of getting a felony conviction, only 6% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail. In other words: 15 of 16 rapists walk free." Sources:  http://well.wvu.edu/articles/rape_myths_and_facts,  http://www.rainn.org/

Age has nothing to do with the damage of a sexual assault, unless you mean that only children show physical damage. Which isn't accurate,  either. A woman claiming RAPE will be asked to undergo a rape kit to collect evidence of the attack. Forcing anything can cause tearing, etc, which will be documented.  Not all rapes have tearing, so that is not definitive,  but it is a step. All swabs taken are sent to the lab- this includes swabs of any dried secretions like saliva,  etc, on the skin. If you never touched her, the kit will be negative. She will be asked to repeat her story, as will you, on numerous occasions.  Does one change significantly? Hmm... The cops will look for objective evidence to support or discredit parts of these http://stories.so she says you raped her at 10pm, used a condom so there won't be DNA. You say it didn't happen. Maybe you hit the ATM at 9:58- now the cops are looking at her funny, because you are on tape elsewhere 2 minutes before. And a bust for filing a false report works. Plus, you may have a libel suit. It all depends on the individual situation, but the presumption that no one looks for anything beyond "But SHE SAID..." is false and underestimates law enforcement.  They aren't stupid. Please note: RAPE and HARRASSMENT are not the same thing!