# Le't see those rape statistics **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 26, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710 "2003-02-26T19:33:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Venoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Venoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Venoma)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/21 "2003-02-26T22:03:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RexDart \* > **Likewise, there may be a disproportionate number of people following this series of threads who have themselves been raped or know someone who has been, and that was why they took an active interest in this topic.** I believe most, if not all, women do have an active interest in the topic of rape. All of the women on this board may not read the BBQ pit, however. FTR I have not been raped, but 4 of my friends have (one of them being male), and 2 family members. This is only those that I know of. ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/22 "2003-02-26T22:04:30Z")
BTW, I just put myself down for a violent rape. Never actually been raped of course, but just wanted to help your moronic study along. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/23 "2003-02-26T22:10:16Z")
Jeez **Rhum** , tell us how you really feel… So 57% of anonymous respondents said they have experienced some kind of sexual assault at some point. Wow. Maybe it’s not hard science, or science of any kind, but it’s interesting in the context of the SDMB community. Doesn’t it freak you out at all that a bunch of the women you “know” may have been treated so poorly? This is a casual poll designed to allow women to be counted without them having to say “Hi, I’m whoever, and I got raped by two guys at a party in college.” Which is not a bad thing. And I don’t see what the problem is with it being anonymous. Do you think people are just spamming the poll with lies, **Rhum**? Did you? Ah, on preview I see that you did. What a tool. It’s not like **Opal** is trying to get grant money based on the results. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Venoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Venoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Venoma)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/24 "2003-02-26T22:10:55Z")
Rhum, why the FUCK would you do that? Just to be a general… jerk? ---
**Author:** ![Magickly\_Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magickly\_Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magickly_Delicious)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/25 "2003-02-26T22:11:04Z")
The point is that 43 is still too many. _That’s_ what the numbers show. Special thanks to **Rhum Runner** for his brave dishonesty. By the way, by his criteria, it is completely unverifiable that **Rh R** is a human…hmmm maybe he does have a point. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/26 "2003-02-26T22:11:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rhum Runner \* > \*\*BTW, I just put myself down for a violent rape. Never actually been raped of course, but just wanted to help your moronic study along. \*\* That’s helpful. If you disagree with something, sabotage it or otherwise try to fuck it up. ---
**Author:** ![THespos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/27 "2003-02-26T22:13:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rhum Runner \* > \*\*BTW, I just put myself down for a violent rape. Never actually been raped of course, but just wanted to help your moronic study along. \*\* Y’know, **Rhum Runner** , I think people can make up their own minds about the validity of what **OpalCat** is doing. I don’t think she needs you to go in there and deliberately lie. You made your point when you said the results would be “useless.” Did you have to go in there and fuck things up further? I would have liked to have seen the results of the poll, even if they’re pretty much useless. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/28 "2003-02-26T22:14:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rhum Runner \* > \*\*How can someone have been around here as long as you have and still be this stupid? Your numbers show NOTHING! Got it? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! This isn’t “close to scientific” it is utter bull shit. 43 women victim of sexual assault huh? How the fuck do you know that? You have 43 pieces of data from anonymous internet surfers with absolutely no way to verify any of it. I am sure I could develop a less reliable way to generate statistical information, but I really can’t think of one right now. Anyone who is on the fence and is swayed by your pathetic pseudopoll is an idiot of the second highest order. The only higher order would be the person who conceived the poll in the first place. \*\* I know this is the Pit, but calling someone an idiot for attempting to capture a very hard piece of data to capture, while acknowledging that the method of capture is limited, is unwarranted. **Opal** - theres an option at freepolls to only allow one IP one vote, right? Did you do that? Right now this thread has 483, and the poll shows 22 rapes out of 91 responses. Can we agree that there have been at most 483 people in here (obviously fewer, but max at 483)? **Rhum Runner** seems to not believe the 22. Can we agree that it’s 22 rapes and pathological liars? There. 22 rape victims and pathological liars out of something less than 483 people. That’s not completely useless, is it? ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/29 "2003-02-26T22:16:27Z")
Rhum Runner, you’re catching Joe\_Cool syndrome. To wit, dealing with a piece of data makes you uncomfortable, so you do your best to discredit it, even if the issue is less about “is this true?” and more about “How true is this?”. You wouldn’t be bitching half so much if this unscientific poll didn’t make you feel uncomfortable. Boy, armchair psychoanalisys is such fun. ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/30 "2003-02-26T22:23:46Z")
The point of this board is to fight ignorance, not promulgate it. This so called “poll” is the type of quasi factoid garbage that is supposed to be thrown down, stomped upon, chewed up, spit out and in general laughed at around here. It deserves nothing but scorn, and all of you who are expressing some interest in the results should be appalled at your own gullible willingness to buy into this level of alchemic thinking. You might as well take a poll of those in prison asking how many people are guilty and conclude that only the innocent go to jail. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/31 "2003-02-26T22:26:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rhum Runner \* > \*\*You might as well take a poll of those in prison asking how many people are guilty and conclude that only the innocent go to jail. \*\* I don’t see the correlation here. It looks like the majority of the respondents to the poll indicated they had NOT been raped or assaulted. ---
**Author:** ![Venoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Venoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Venoma)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/32 "2003-02-26T22:28:08Z")
That’s right, because women on message boards regularly lie about rape as often as convicts protest their innocence. Try again. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/33 "2003-02-26T22:28:30Z")
_shrug_ This unscientific poll makes me mildly uncomfortable, if only because conclusions of any sort are going to be drawn from it. There’s no way of determining if the respondents are women, or if they’ve voted multiple times, or an unknown number of other factors. It’ll be interesting to see the results, of course, but I consider it intellectually dishonest to use it for any point, whether implied or direct. Whether the results say 50% of voluntary respondents have been violently raped or 5%, the flaws in the surveying method bother me. Those who know me well know that this is a subject very near to me and that I do not take lightly. **Opal** , I respect what you’re trying to do here, and I fully agree with the sentiment behind it. I just think that this isn’t the best approach. I’m sorry if I’m unclear. ---
**Author:** ![TigoleBitties](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cab0a1/32.png) [@TigoleBitties](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TigoleBitties)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/34 "2003-02-26T22:28:34Z")
IMHO 1 is too many and lying or not…if I am told you did it, dont be surprised to find yourself nursing a serious beating. Personally, the poll is fine. It may make someone who suffered it not feel alone in the world. That alone is enough to give it validity. ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/35 "2003-02-26T22:30:43Z")
Rhum Runner, there is no massive conspiracy to skew these statistics (except for you, of course). Is it accurate for any scientific purpouse? Of course not. But we are not using it for a scientific standard of evidence. We are using it to get an approximation. BTW, I stand by my psychoanalysis. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/36 "2003-02-26T22:32:35Z")
**Rhum Runner** - Tell us all how one could get a good statistic of the number of women who have been raped. Be warned, though - if there is a weakness to your method at all, I will discredit it as useless and tell you you might as well ask inmates if they’re guilty. Oh, and apologize to **Opal** for calling her an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/37 "2003-02-26T22:33:49Z")
**Rhum Runner** , could you BE more of a jackass? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/38 "2003-02-26T22:36:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lno \* > \*\*There’s no way of determining if the respondents are women, or if they’ve voted multiple times, or an unknown number of other factors. \*\* I’m pretty sure FreePolls allows you to only allow one vote per IP, which addresses one of your concerns. Even the most scientifically conducted **poll** in the world couldn’t combat a out-and-out lie like **Rhum Runner** submitted. Thus, every poll has inherent flaws. ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/39 "2003-02-26T22:39:03Z")
The point is that if design a poll or survey like this one the results are as meaningless as taking a survey of people in jail about their innocence. Personally I don’t have a hard time believing the 25% number, but I do get a little upset when I see crap like this going on, esp. when some posters suggest that if they were “on the fence” they might consider this sort of evidence, when of course it is no evidence at all. **robertliguori** You can take your psychoanalysis and shove it up your ass as far as I am concerned. You want to take this as an approximation, fine. You might as well start reading tea leaves for all the relevance it will have to the real world. **bup** I will not apologize for calling Opal anything. This is the pit, she started this thread because “I think that maybe some eyes will be opened” which clearly demonstrates that either she is an idiot, or that she thinks we are. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710/40 "2003-02-26T22:43:45Z")
Hey **Rhum** regardless of the statistical validity of the number generated by Opal’s survey, are you not even remotely non-plused by the fact that 43 of the members of this board that you frequent express that they have been raped or assulted? Either you’re ignoring the fact that some of your peers have been attacked, or you think that the women of the SDMB are a bunch of liars. If it’s the later, why do you stay? For the record, I was one of the posters that took Opal’s poll and answered in the affirmative. So, now that there’s an actual person speaking up does that make a difference? Do you care at all about the well-being of other posters, or do you assume that I’m lying? Obviously, you don’t know me, and any concern that you might have would be purely abstract. I’m curious though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-see-those-rape-statistics/157710.md?page=3)