I've been reading through this thread and a previous one and there seems to be a lot of talking past one another.
By and large it seems that virtually everyone agrees on the important parts. Harassment does happen, it should not be tolerated, the targets are disproportionately female and the perpetrators are mostly white men. These seem like uncontroversial facts.
Now there are a few points that explains some of those facts. One, harassment happens, unfortunately, just about everywhere, so RPG gatherings would be no exception. And Two, white men are a majority of RPG players and females are a minority. So not only are there more potential harassers among white men, but also they have a position of strength as a majority group. Likewise, women, as a minority group are easier targets. Of course other than the demographic of RPG players none of this has anything to do specifically with role-playing games. The same could be said of sporting events, business conventions or political rallies.
The disagreement really comes in when people try to characterize the problem as either a systemic problem of RPG gatherings or that it is less common at RPG gatherings than any other gathering. I don't think we have any conclusive evidence either way. A study or survey would probably be a good idea if GenCon or some other large gaming convention would do it.
Based on my own personal experiences I would say that Gamer gatherings are no better or worse than any other. Of course I also believe that all gatherings dominated by males (of any race) needs to do better at respecting women. It is not a gamer problem or a RPG gamer problem, it is a societal problem that needs to be addressed.
In defense of white men (of which I am one) I will say that white men are no better or worse than any other group of people. If the roles are reversed women are no better than men are. Likewise any other race is no better or worse than whites. The problem is who has the power? Who has the majority? That's the group that has the problem. And right now it is white men that are in that position, so it is white men that have the problem.