4 ms·

They can. But the odds are vastly, provably, lower.

DannyBee 13y ago
I'm sorry, what are you basing this on? Provably? In what sense? Given how underreported rape is in all cases, i'm curious what conclusions you think can be proved. Looking at a bunch of journal studies from the past 10 years: Rape by males of females is underreported by 50-90%, depending on who you believe Rape by males of males is underreported by 95-99%, depending on who you believe Rape by females of females is underreported by 95-99% depending on who you believe Rape by females of males is underreported by 95-99% depending on who you believe. I'm only suggesting your statement that the odds are provably lower, is false, because i don't think you have enough reliable data to prove anything. It may in fact, be that rape by females is lower, but i have a lot of trouble seeing that we have enough statistical data to prove it.
- deleted 13y ago
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- jamespo 13y ago
  Some statistics would help here, and ones without source are as useful as none at all.
- Permit 13y ago
  Percentages are useless without any context: http://xkcd.com/1102/ http://xkcd.com/1102/
- baddox 13y ago
  You latched onto rape specifically, presumably because it's the easiest one to claim skepticism about reporting rates (although I still find it very difficult to believe that men don't rape at least 10 times more than women). But what about murder? I suspect murder is much more accurately reported.
  - DannyBee 13y ago
    Without any real data, and widely varying estimates of reporting rates, why do you find it difficult to believe? Gut feeling is not a valid scientific method :) Yes, murder is definitely more accurately reported, because, well, in most cases, it's always investigated (if you are murdered, generally, the police investigate). Males commit ~90% of murders in the US. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf However, most of it is of other males :) Male offender/male victim 67.8% Male offender/female victim 21.0% Female offender/male victim 9.0% Female offender/female victim 2.2% In fact, it shows that males kill females only twice as much as females kill males, which is a lot higher than most people expect females to be. Males also get killed by strangers (relevant to the original discussion) at a rate >2x higher than females: Male Female Stranger 25.5% 11.9% (Sadly, none of the source data is in that PDF, and honestly, for a mostly side-argument on hacker news, i'm just not willing to go looking very hard :P)
- itsybitsycoder 13y ago
  Well, women make up ~50% of the general population, but only ~1-15% of serial killers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_killer#Female_serial_killers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_killer#Female_serial_ki...
  - DannyBee 13y ago
    Serial killers that are caught or discovered, you mean. Women are also a lot more likely to kill through more covert means (poison in particular), which means they are almost certainly statistically less likely to be caught.
    - itsybitsycoder 13y ago
      In order to poison someone, you need to be close enough to them that they're willing to eat/drink something you've prepared for them, which would suggest that the majority of poisoning murders involve at least an acquaintanceship between the murderer and the victim. It seems very unlikely that 85%-99% of female serial killers (the required percentage to get to a 50/50 ratio) are all using undetectable poisons, successfully ordering these poisons in a way that can't be tracked, killing people they know with it, probably during a shared meal, then adequately disposing of the poison afterwards. Not to mention doing this over and over again without anyone getting suspicious about the fact that otherwise-healthy people around them are dropping like flies for no apparent reason. Do you have any evidence whatsoever for this?

I'm sorry, what are you basing this on? Provably? In what sense? Given how underreported rape is in all cases, i'm curious what conclusions you think can be proved. Looking at a bunch of journal studies from the past 10 years: Rape by males of females is underreported by 50-90%, depending on who you believe Rape by males of males is underreported by 95-99%, depending on who you believe Rape by females of females is underreported by 95-99% depending on who you believe Rape by females of males is underreported by 95-99% depending on who you believe. I'm only suggesting your statement that the odds are provably lower, is false, because i don't think you have enough reliable data to prove anything. It may in fact, be that rape by females is lower, but i have a lot of trouble seeing that we have enough statistical data to prove it.

deleted 13y ago
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jamespo 13y ago
Some statistics would help here, and ones without source are as useful as none at all.
Permit 13y ago
Percentages are useless without any context: http://xkcd.com/1102/ http://xkcd.com/1102/
baddox 13y ago
You latched onto rape specifically, presumably because it's the easiest one to claim skepticism about reporting rates (although I still find it very difficult to believe that men don't rape at least 10 times more than women). But what about murder? I suspect murder is much more accurately reported.
- DannyBee 13y ago
  Without any real data, and widely varying estimates of reporting rates, why do you find it difficult to believe? Gut feeling is not a valid scientific method :) Yes, murder is definitely more accurately reported, because, well, in most cases, it's always investigated (if you are murdered, generally, the police investigate). Males commit ~90% of murders in the US. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf However, most of it is of other males :) Male offender/male victim 67.8% Male offender/female victim 21.0% Female offender/male victim 9.0% Female offender/female victim 2.2% In fact, it shows that males kill females only twice as much as females kill males, which is a lot higher than most people expect females to be. Males also get killed by strangers (relevant to the original discussion) at a rate >2x higher than females: Male Female Stranger 25.5% 11.9% (Sadly, none of the source data is in that PDF, and honestly, for a mostly side-argument on hacker news, i'm just not willing to go looking very hard :P)
itsybitsycoder 13y ago
Well, women make up ~50% of the general population, but only ~1-15% of serial killers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_killer#Female_serial_killers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_killer#Female_serial_ki...
- DannyBee 13y ago
  Serial killers that are caught or discovered, you mean. Women are also a lot more likely to kill through more covert means (poison in particular), which means they are almost certainly statistically less likely to be caught.
  - itsybitsycoder 13y ago
    In order to poison someone, you need to be close enough to them that they're willing to eat/drink something you've prepared for them, which would suggest that the majority of poisoning murders involve at least an acquaintanceship between the murderer and the victim. It seems very unlikely that 85%-99% of female serial killers (the required percentage to get to a 50/50 ratio) are all using undetectable poisons, successfully ordering these poisons in a way that can't be tracked, killing people they know with it, probably during a shared meal, then adequately disposing of the poison afterwards. Not to mention doing this over and over again without anyone getting suspicious about the fact that otherwise-healthy people around them are dropping like flies for no apparent reason. Do you have any evidence whatsoever for this?