I think my best friend lied to me about being raped?

[Natasha]

Over the summer my best friend told me about how in her first year at university she slipped up generally with her morals and hooked up with guys, and had sex with one, losing her virginity. The way she told me this initially was in a pretty light manner, and we were joking around and stuff.

She's always been devout to her religion, and believes in no sex before marriage, abstains from alcohol, dresses modestly, etc.

Please bear with me, i'm almost getting to the point - she is also very outspoken. I won't say of what religion or country, but they experience much corruption/discrimination. In school she was never afraid of speaking out, or making Facebook statuses about the wrongness of what her people experience, and openly discusses and defends them.

So she met this guy now in second year, and considers it a serious relationship. One, where she could "potentially see herself marrying him". One day she calls me during this second year, and tells me that the guy she lost her virginity to actually raped her. Immediately I couldn't believe it... why is this coming out now? Is it because she's trying to give her slip-up an excuse, to still be a virgin before marriage with the claim that it was stolen from her? she's such a spoken out girl, and would not let someone get away with doing something like that to her and keep quiet about it.. (these are all my speculations)

What are some thoughts about this? Is it right for me to doubt her? How do I go about approaching her possibly lying to me.. or if i even should?

[Suzy Q]

If you are a friend, please be a loyal one. I had a similar situation when I was young. I was 16, a virgin, and I was raped by someone I worked with. I ran home (almost 10 miles) after he finished and I got away from him, and when I got home I was freaking out, so I called my best friend to tell her what happened. She told me that I must have imagined it, and because she didn't believe me, I thought no one would believe me. So I never told anyone else until almost 20 years later, and he got away with what he did to me. He's a free man walking around, maybe still preying on young girls. The last thing in the world a raped woman needs to hear is that people don't believe her - especially friends. It can screw up your thinking for a REALLY long time afterward. You blame yourself and you behave really badly - some women for the rest of their lives - just because you convince yourself that you are a bad person. PLEASE do not say anything to your friend that is not supportive of her because you might damage her forever, like I was damaged. If she really isn't telling the truth, it'll come out in the wash.

[Mark]

I think she is lying because if she got raped in the first place she would've had told you about her rape. Just like ignore it, and if it becomes serious then call the police. In the meantime try get some info out of your friend about the rape so that you can tell if she honestly got raped or not. She might be telling the truth.