# Will a quarter of all women really get raped? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 20, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364 "2003-02-20T17:48:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/181 "2003-03-01T04:14:21Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** :smack: OK, it appears on further research that **Blue John** _did_ post that, he [just didn’t post it in this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3036704#post3036704). Sorry about that **MixieArmadillo** ; your Official Warning is withdrawn. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/182 "2003-03-01T17:37:49Z")
False attributions? I don’t need no steeenkeen false attributions! I let people dig their own idiot-pits. 😉 Out of curiosity, **Blue John** are you perchance a [Promise Keeper](http://www.promisekeepers.org/) or something of the sort? I’m trying to figure out if there’s a basis for your idiotic views, or if it’s just general idiocy. I’m not saying that it’s okay for one person to hold sexist views simply because another does, but I am saying that it’s sort of rediculous for you to call my words (women are more capable of truely understanding the full emotional impact of rape) “sexist, ignorant, supremacist tripe,” in light of your views: women are useless except for procreation… “I support the subordination of women, for their own protection as much as anything,” and, my own personal favorite (which, I might add, is going up on my “wall of stupid”) “he refused to follow his own reasoning to the obvious conclusion, that women should not be treated as fully human.” Ignorant, supremacist tripe, indeed. I’m saying there are differences between the sexes. Do you think there’s anyone on the planet that would disagree that women are different than men? I’m not saying one gender is (or should be) inherantly valued over the other, or that one should be subservient. That’s where the [sexist,](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sexist) ignorant tripe comes in. I suppose it’s possible to hold the opinion that women are worthless, meaningless lumps of feminine flesh without actually _hating_ them (“I’m beating you, son, because I love you and that’s what good parenting is about”), but even if you _aren’t_ a troll and really, truely, in your lil, bitty heart believe this putrescence, it doesn’t make it any less idiotic. ~mixie ---
**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:** [March 1, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/183 "2003-03-01T18:59:49Z")
Sorry, that was MY fault-I thought you were misquoting him for what he said here, and so I asked a mod about it. Please forgive me, mixie. :o (although if you could link next time to the thread where he says it, that would help.) Mods, I’m sorry. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/184 "2003-03-01T23:17:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Sorry, that was MY fault-I thought you were misquoting him for what he said here, and so I asked a mod about it. Please forgive me, mixie. :o (although if you could link next time to the thread where he says it, that would help.) > > Mods, I’m sorry. \*\* No prollem, I was going to link to the post, but I wasn’t sure how to link to an exact post, and didn’t know if linking to the entire thread would be much more enlightening. Sorry 'bout that. Peace, ~mixie ---
**Author:** ![avalongod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@avalongod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/avalongod)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/185 "2003-03-02T04:26:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MixieArmadillo \* > \*\* > I’m saying there are differences between the sexes. Do you think there’s anyone on the planet that would disagree that women are different than men? I’m not saying one gender is (or should be) inherantly valued over the other, or that one should be subservient. That’s where the [sexist,](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sexist) ignorant tripe comes in. > > I\*\* I have seen some sociologists claim this…that there are no inherint differences between males and females, but that our society “teaches” us to be male of female. Outside of sociology no one really takes this to seriously (by which I mean the idea that biology is irrelevant to our sense of masculinity or femininity)…particularly given the body of literature regarding brain differences between males and females. I totally agree with you…though differences may exist between groups of people (gender, racial, religious, etc.) diversity is what makes the world an interesting place. No group should be valued over the others, or considered more moral. I don’t think any of us really take the misogyny that has crept into this thread seriously…I move that we return to the debate at hand. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_John](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@Blue\_John](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_John)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/186 "2003-03-02T12:05:15Z")
**avalongod** , any woman who lets the fear of rape influence her life is paranoid, which is exactly what the people promoting these statistics want. I once saw a statistics from a hypnotherapist, as it happens, claiming as many as 1 in 7 Americans had been abducted by aliens. The memories were supressed, of course, so they never know. They are both questionable statistics coming from groups and individuals with vested interests and agendas, yet one of them is accepted by many people with no evidence while the other is laughed off. Women are more likely to be violent to dependants and intimate partners than strangers. The majority of child abuse and domestic violence is female perpetrated. From [The Invisible Boy](http://www.travel-net.com/~pater/invis.htm), [Chapter 2, Perpetrators of Male Victimisation](http://www.travel-net.com/~pater/invis-3.htm): > [@](#): > > The percentage of women and teenage girl perpetrators recorded in case report studies is small and ranges from 3%-10% (Kendall-Tackett and Simon, 1987; McCarty, 1986; Schultz and Jones, 1983; Wasserman and Kappel, 1985). When the victim is male, female perpetrators account for 1%-24% of abusers. When the victim is female, female perpetrators account for 6%-17% of abusers (American Humane Association, 1981; Finkelhor and Russell, 1984; and Finkelhor et al., 1990). In the Ontario Incidence Study, 10% of sexual abuse investigations involved female perpetrators > (Trocme, 1995). However, in six studies reviewed by Russell and Finkelhor, female perpetrators accounted for 25% or more of abusers. Ramsay-Klawsnik (1990a) found that adult females were abusers of males 37% of the time, female adolescents 19% of the time. Both of these rates are higher than the same study reported for adult and teen male abusers. **MixieArmadillo** , no I’m not a Promise Keeper or anything like that. Promise Keepers are too close to feminism for me. My beliefs are based more on the Bible, the world around us and philosophers like Weininger. I never said women were useless except for procreation, I just said that procreation is the only thing women can give to society that men can’t do at least as well. I suppose I am sexist and supremacist, there’s nothing wrong with that if it is anti-feminist sexism and supremacism. I never said women are just lumps of flesh any more than men, either. More like children. How can you hate a child? I don’t support violence either. ---
**Author:** ![MrO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@MrO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrO)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/187 "2003-03-02T12:47:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blue John \* > \*\*I suppose I am sexist and supremacist, there’s nothing wrong with that if it is anti-feminist sexism and supremacism. > > I never said women are just lumps of flesh any more than men, either. More like children. How can you hate a child? I don’t support violence either. \*\* There is a lot more violence in your words than you seem to realize. A lot more misinformation, too. Please, women, understand that this person does not speak for all of us men. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/188 "2003-03-02T13:08:58Z")
Blue John, MAJORITY means over 50%. i don’t think your statistics say that the MAJORITY of domestic and child abuse is perpetrated by women. do you know how utterly offensive it is to compare women to children? even the bible suggests women warrant positions of authourity. i suggest you re-read the end of proverbs, the references to Deborah in judges and take a look at the genders of the leaders of the early church. ---
**Author:** ![Tee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/189 "2003-03-02T16:52:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blue John \* > **MixieArmadillo, no I’m not a Promise Keeper or anything like that. Promise Keepers are too close to feminism for me. My beliefs are based more on the Bible, the world around us and philosophers like Weininger.** Unfortunately Weininger is a poor source of rape statistics, and probably was even in his day. Since he killed himself at age 23, any of his writings must be viewed through a despondent post-adolescent filter. Belief that women are ‘like children’, unpalatable though it may be, is still in a roundabout way supportive of the claims of the militant feminists that are so condemned - ‘all sex is rape’. Children may not give consent to a sexual act, thus children have additional legal protections under the law - all sex with those under the age of, say, 14, _is_ legally considered rape. Extending that non-capacity to include all women, we would assume that women are not fully capable of consent, then we are in Brownmiller territory - all male-female sex _is_ rape. The Bible supports that somewhat. Your choice of sex partners is very limited, and of course you must marry her after the fact. Or be put to death, whichever. Her willingness to participate is irrelevant. If you think the current laws are unfair or restrictive, imagine living under Mosaic ones. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![avalongod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@avalongod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/avalongod)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/190 "2003-03-02T16:55:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blue John \* > \*\ ***avalongod** , any woman who lets the fear of rape influence her life is paranoid, which is exactly what the people promoting these statistics want. \*\* I will agree that SOME people involved in the media or promiting statistics that are exaggerated are promoting some hysteria. But at the same time, even if the numbers are lower, taking reasonable precautions is a fact of life. The odds of me being mugged are likely pretty low, yet I do remain vigilant whenever I am in an area of town that I am unfamiliar with. there is a difference in my mind, between paranoia and reasonable precaution. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blue John \* > [BThe majority of child abuse and domestic violence is female perpetrated. > \*\* BlueJohn, I am never quite sure whether to take you seriously or not. But stunningly enough Blue John is on target here. There is a body of evidence suggesting that women do indeed perpetrate about equal levels of domestic violence as men…though we must also remember men have more upper body strength and are prone to cause more injuries (see the work of Straus, Steinmetz or McNeely and Robinson-Simpson for discussion). There is a huge controversial back and forth argument on this that probably is beyond the scope of this thread. And yes women do perpetrate more incidents of violent child abuse and child homicide (though this is true only for children under the age of 6)…there is a body of literature on this as well (OVerpeck et al…for instance). For children over the age of 6 step-dads become the primary perpetrators I am not quite sure what the point is of bringing that up though. I should be noted that, as rape is perpetrated by a \*\* minority\*\* of men, so too is domestic violence and child abuse perpetratded by a **minority** of men and women. I’m not sure what bearing it has on the issue of rape. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_John](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@Blue\_John](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_John)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/191 "2003-03-03T07:04:04Z")
**avalongod** , if you “take precautions” when in potentially dangerous situations what is meant to be so terrible about women thinking about the possibility of being raped? Anyone who spreads those statistics is helping fuel female paranoia. The figures **are** lower, simple fact. The ones inventing these stats are lying to spread paranoia. Why are you stunned that I am correct, as I have been throughtout this thread? Like you say, women are physically weaker and inferior to men, they are also three times as likely to use a weapon, such as a poker or knife to even things up. Yeah, **Mr O** , my words are incredibly violent. They were robbing banks yesterday. **irishgirl** , I know what majority means, that’s why I used the word. Women commit the majority of child abuse and a slimmer majority of intimate abuse. I don’t know how offensive it is to you to compare women to children, it doesn’t offend me. There are [no feminists in the Bible](http://www.macstand.com/c_corner/fememail.html). That portion of [Proverbs](http://www.macstand.com/c_corner/V_woman.html) doesn’t support you either. You are a slave to feminist dogma, you see? You would be happier if you accepted the truth. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/192 "2003-03-03T15:30:54Z")
YOUR truth? no. happier as i am. thanks awfully. ---
**Author:** ![tyciol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@tyciol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tyciol)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/193 "2013-04-26T04:45:50Z")
> [@toadspittle](#): > > [http://www.rainn.org/statistics.html#womenarevictims:](http://www.rainn.org/statistics.html#womenarevictims:) One out of every six American women have been the victims of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime (14.8% completed rape;2.8% attempted rape). Why should I believe RAINN claims? ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/194 "2013-04-26T05:21:05Z")
> [@tyciol](#): > > Why should I believe RAINN claims? It took you 5 years to reply to a thread that was already 5 years old when you join?😕😕😕 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/195 "2013-04-26T10:19:34Z")
> [@MSU\_1978](#): > > Son of a gun, Uncle Bill, you’re right. Didn’t read my own quote- shame on me. The figure still flies in the face of common sense to me- think of the number of women you personally know and how many of them have been raped? I personally have never known a woman who was raped yet by their statistics I should know several. You don’t know any woman that has been raped _that you know has been raped_. It is very likely that you DO know women who have been raped but they have not revealed that to you. Why should they? Rape victims are still often stigmatized, and it’s part of their sexual history which is generally considered private information. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/196 "2013-04-26T10:35:08Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Your statement is sad, and bespeaks great ignorance. Please cite, which feminist “camps” state that all heterosexual sex is rape? Andrea Dworkin is infamous for making that statement. As typical with things “everybody knows” the real story is slightly different. “All heterosexual sex is rape” is the five-word summary of her 1987 book _Intercourse_ which, if you read the whole book, is of course a more nuanced and detailed discussion of women and sex in modern society. Said 5-word summary was, of course, created by her critics and not her supporters. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/197 "2013-04-26T10:37:55Z")
> [@Truth\_Seeker](#): > > Look, perhaps there’s another way confirm all this. If 17.6% of women have been raped, then 17.6% of men must be rapists! Since this thread has about 700 views, and half of those views are by men, _ **there are at least 60 rapists reading this thread right now!** _ That’s assuming that there is one rapist for every rape, which is clearly false. There should be a lower percentage of rapists than raped because rapists can rape more than one person. There are certainly cases brought to light by the justice system of men who rape significant numbers of women. So no, there aren’t 60 rapists reading this thread, not even close. ---
**Author:** ![esmeralda2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ccd318/32.png) [@esmeralda2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/esmeralda2)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/198 "2013-04-26T10:40:32Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Hey, look, guys, I don’t mean to start a dangerous trend, but I did an actual search! > > According to [http://www.rainn.org/stat(71).html](http://www.rainn.org/stat(71).html) - at a site which, if I had to guess, would overestimate such things, in 1999, there were 383,000 rapes, attempted rapes and sexual assaults in the U.S. > > Roughing that there are 150,000,000 women, and that the average lifespan is 80 years, that works out to about .2 rapes, attempted rapes and sexual assaults per person. > > The number of rapes alone, of course, would be less than that. > > Also, some people will be the victims of one of these horrible crimes more than once - which will make the number of people who experience one of these crimes go down. (that is, two rapes of one woman means another woman will not get raped ever in her lifetime). > > Also, this ignores that the victims of some rapes/sexual assaults are boys and men. > > So taking the .2 number as a high end, we can say that the number works out to something less than 1 in 5. Less than one in five women being the victim of a sexual assault or rape is high, actually. Also, it is often the case that a rape or sexual assault goes unreported. It’s really impossible to have an accurate statistic of these things. I think that some people think rape or sexual assault is over reported (i.e., that lots of women make it up) are very wrong. It is the other way around. There may be some women who make it up, but thinking that is a typical thing is a mistake. It’s far more likely, throughout the world, in the present as well as the past, for rape and sexual assault to go unreported than to be over reported. Very often these things go unreported. For example, my mother was sexually molested by her step father when she was a teenager. She never reported it. She felt the shame of it as if it were her fault. Young women and even older women do the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/199 "2013-04-26T13:17:37Z")
Guys, this is a really old thread. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-quarter-of-all-women-really-get-raped/156364/200 "2013-04-26T13:30:48Z")
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