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<blockquote data-quote="evilbob" data-source="post: 6876768" data-attributes="member: 9789">The &quot;Duke lacrosse team&quot; example is overused to the point of nonsense.Let's do some math.&nbsp; There are ~15,000 students at Duke.&nbsp; We'll pretend that 7500 of them are women (probably more).&nbsp; Of those 7500, ~20% - 1500 - will be sexually assaulted while at Duke, on average.&nbsp; Number of students on the Lacross team?&nbsp; About 50?&nbsp; So there are still a 30:1 ratio of false accusations to average sexual assaults at Duke alone for that single year.&nbsp; Now let's add all the other colleges where there WEREN'T false accusations that year:&nbsp; ~12 million (under 25), half of whom (really more) are women.&nbsp; That's about a 1.2 million to 1 ratio of sexual assaults to false reports IN ONE YEAR.&nbsp; Now let's add all the other years that there WEREN'T false accusations at Duke, or any other college, but there continued to sexual assaults.&nbsp; The point is obvious.&nbsp; Even if you think the 20% number is wrong and it's closer to 2%, that's still hundreds of thousands more assaults than false reports.Using the Duke lacrosse team as a counter example is like saying, &quot;that one time, someone who was wearing a seat belt died because of it.&quot;&nbsp; That one time.&nbsp; Out of thousands of lives saved every day.&nbsp; You can't justify never wearing a seat belt because of that one time, and you can't justify a muted or non-existent response to sexual assault because of a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of false reports.Yes:&nbsp; false reports are horrible.&nbsp; You know what else is horrible?&nbsp; The hundreds of thousands (or maybe millions) of sexual assaults that happen per single false report.&nbsp; The numbers are incomparable, so the idea that one equals the other is ludicrous.&nbsp; The idea that because one can happen we still need to err on the side of the one that happens maybe a million times less often is ludicrous.&nbsp; The idea that nothing needs to be done is ludicrous.But false reports are scary to men:&nbsp; that's the only difference.&nbsp; Even though women are assaulted zillions of times more often, that doesn't affect most men in a direct way - but false reports!&nbsp; That could affect ME!&nbsp; That's the only reason why false reports are elevated to such a scare level, and why they are cast time and again as a reasonable response to sexual assault responses when in fact they are trivial in comparison.(There are many other examples in politics right now of similar comparisons which are nonsense but are nonetheless SO SCARY to the people in charge that they outweigh the nonsense.&nbsp; Trans people assaulting women in bathrooms, for example.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="evilbob, post: 6876768, member: 9789"] The "Duke lacrosse team" example is overused to the point of nonsense. Let's do some math. There are ~15,000 students at Duke. We'll pretend that 7500 of them are women (probably more). Of those 7500, ~20% - 1500 - will be sexually assaulted while at Duke, on average. Number of students on the Lacross team? About 50? So there are still a 30:1 ratio of false accusations to average sexual assaults at Duke alone for that single year. Now let's add all the other colleges where there WEREN'T false accusations that year: ~12 million (under 25), half of whom (really more) are women. That's about a 1.2 million to 1 ratio of sexual assaults to false reports IN ONE YEAR. Now let's add all the other years that there WEREN'T false accusations at Duke, or any other college, but there continued to sexual assaults. The point is obvious. Even if you think the 20% number is wrong and it's closer to 2%, that's still hundreds of thousands more assaults than false reports. Using the Duke lacrosse team as a counter example is like saying, "that one time, someone who was wearing a seat belt died because of it." That one time. Out of thousands of lives saved every day. You can't justify never wearing a seat belt because of that one time, and you can't justify a muted or non-existent response to sexual assault because of a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of false reports. Yes: false reports are horrible. You know what else is horrible? The hundreds of thousands (or maybe millions) of sexual assaults that happen per single false report. The numbers are incomparable, so the idea that one equals the other is ludicrous. The idea that because one can happen we still need to err on the side of the one that happens maybe a million times less often is ludicrous. The idea that nothing needs to be done is ludicrous. But false reports are scary to men: that's the only difference. Even though women are assaulted zillions of times more often, that doesn't affect most men in a direct way - but false reports! That could affect ME! That's the only reason why false reports are elevated to such a scare level, and why they are cast time and again as a reasonable response to sexual assault responses when in fact they are [i]trivial[/i] in comparison. (There are many other examples in politics right now of similar comparisons which are nonsense but are nonetheless SO SCARY to the people in charge that they outweigh the nonsense. Trans people assaulting women in bathrooms, for example.) [/QUOTE]

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