But they are being believed in 2016, in what the Times has suggested is "a turning point in public understanding of sexual assault".
Some experts said that the study, financed by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, could be a turning point in the understanding and treatment of people with severe traumatic brain injuries.
Niri Shan, head of media law at Taylor Wessing, which represents some social media firms, said that the McAlpine case – in which the former Conservative chairman sued a number of people, including the Commons Speaker's wife Sally Bercow, over tweets following a Newsnight programme – was a turning point in public understanding of social media and the law.
Despite these points, Mendel's theory marks a turning point in our understanding of inheritance.
Lucy's discovery marked a turning point in our understanding of human evolution.
And they were doing it in such an unusual medium, that it felt like a turning point in our understanding of video games, and what they're capable of.
The Drukpa nuns said the earthquakes were a turning point in their understanding of human trafficking and that they felt a need to do more than travel to disaster-hit mountain villages with rice on their backs.
Among high-throughput experimental methods, genome sequencing represents a turning point in the understanding of biological systems.
The availability of floral homeotic mutants and the isolation of the corresponding genes represented a turning point in our understanding of the molecular basis of flower formation.
Determining the factors that impart resilience, or contribute to vulnerability, could be a turning point in our understanding of mental and physical disease.
