True cruelty is to show a woman the horrors of her own nature, to cast a mirror and make her aware of her own ugliness. She cannot handle it, so she must deny it, avoid it, reject it - anything but accept it. Truth is her enemy, which is why showing her herself is cruel.
A women overpowered a man by keeping to the same story which was likely to be false. But because she is a woman and "women deserve to be heard" and "believed", she sent an innocent man to prison. A man who at the time felt helpless, powerless, abused emotionally and defamed.