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To: ansel12

-I feel your argument ignores basics of the human condition. Women are targets because they are, on average, 40% weaker than men. If you believe that an assailant is indifferent to the strength of his prey and would therefore not choose a target likely to be much weaker than he over one that is likely closer his own strength then there is nothing I can say but that we disagree.
If you believe that men throughout time have shown no greater rate of violence toward women than that of women toward men then again - we must disagree.
Your data is scientifically lacking. You have identified some small anamolies (data that runs counter to police work and military history i.e conquering nations raping the women of the conquered nation) and said they give a ‘hint’ at what is out there. I would said that these are non-random, samples of insufficient size and validity contain little if any real information.
109 rapes is, although a human tragedy, a completely unacceptable sample size. The methodology is not even discussed - we are to just trust it without review.

You cite: “556 rape allegations. Of that total, 256 could not be conclusively verified as rape.” Did you take this to mean that these cases were not rape? Because that is not what is stated. ‘Conclusively verified’ has always been the hurdle women face and it is why they often don’t report or or don’t face a courtroom - it’s often her word against his as a man raping a woman makes an effort not to be seen by others. This is a key issue with reporting rapes - recently I recall reading of a Middle Eastern country that declared that a woman reporting a rape was guilty of adultry unless she could produce a male relative who witnessed the rape. WHEN would that ever happen? The nature of rape is secrecy. The rapist, like Polanski, can easily assert that it was consensual. Knowing the humiliating accusations heading their way - women sometimes avoid reporting rapes or recant afterwards once they have already had a ‘taste’ of the criminal justice system and rightly judge that justice is out of their reach. That study of 556 rape allegations was undertaken by the military. Was it performed on a military population? Because that may well introduce a significant bias factor unacceptable in an objective study. Outside studies tend to be more objective than asking an organization to study and report on it’s own behavior. Sexual assault complaints, like sexual harrassment complaints, do not look good on a military record. No methodology is given.
The only reason these little studies seem to be pointed to is because they go against conventional wisdom comprised of much larger data sets over a longer period of time with greater access to methodology. The federal government collects such statistics as do local and state governments. I recall recently that Chicago was being lambasted for bragging that rapes went down when in fact the police department stopped recording complaints the way they had in the past. It was now up to the discretion of one office whether he believed a woman reporting a rape or not. If she didn’t convince him - he just didn’t write it down. Hard to know what the real false rape report data is but the studies you cited are not persuasive (IMHO) and seem to fly in the face of human history, conventional wisdom, and national studies.
Men are, due to testosterone, more agressive than women, more prone to killing others, raping others - than women (although some women really seem to be trying to ‘catch up’). Men work in some very dangerous fields closed to women. For example, our country does not formally allow women in combat. The Alaskan fisheries deck crews tend to be male due to the need to lift or haul 100 pounds plus etc. This didn’t keep me from ‘going out the door and assuming the risks that men do’ (I worked in Alaskan fisheries) but it kept me safter. My inability to lift 100+ pounds barred me from the most hazardous work out there. Fire crews contain more men because women frequently fail the test where one has to to drag and place an extended ladder, drag a 100lb bag (to simulate rescue) etc. It’s not merely women choosing to avoid consequences, and it is not a matter of indifference when men are maimed and killed.


30 posted on 08/10/2010 9:08:03 PM PDT by ransomnote
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To: ransomnote

I don’t want to wade through your long narratives, are you staying with your original claim that men are safer in society, or are you admitting that you were mistaken about that?


31 posted on 08/10/2010 9:13:13 PM PDT by ansel12 (Mitt: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush")
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