Based on demographics alone, I’d predict lower rates in broader American society (based on males being much more likely to commit assault, and the strong trend toward desistance from crime by the time a person turns 35 or so).
Intuitively that doesn’t seem like the right base rate to me, even if the reference class is the whole of society? If the average woman considering getting involved in EA is in her early to mid twenties (e.g. the average female EAG attendee was 28 I believe), I would guess that the average age of the men she interacts with would be much lower than the population average? Especially if she is a student.
In terms of the reference class I had in mind, it was something like, ’for a given cluster of EAs that are attached to another subculture, EAs would have on average less sexism and abuse than that subculture within. So e.g. EAs within the tech scene, EAs within the Burning Man scene, within various academic scenes, etc. Interested in your thoughts on that.
I don’t have the data to speculate—that’s why we need robust data collection.
The comment that started this discussion was:
In no community I was ever part of before have I had to tell newcomers “beware, this community is plagued by sexism, racism and abuse”. That I have to to have to tell this to people I introduce to EA is really absurd.
From the original commenter’s perspective, he would likely advise his friends in comparison to age-matched society as a whole (not adjusting for gender imbalance in EA, not adjusting for EAs being attached to high-sexism/abuse subcultures.”
The commenter’s statement isn’t inconsistent with the hypothesis that (e.g.) EAs within the tech scene display less sexism and abuse than people in the tech scene as a whole. It’s plausible that EAs tend to be “attached to . . . subculture[s]” that have very high rates of sexism and abuse relative to age-matched members of society as whole. There could be lower rates of sexism and abuse among EAs in those subcultures than among other subculture members . . . but still high compared to age-matched society as a whole.
What broad communities do you have in mind as being better re sexual assault?
Based on demographics alone, I’d predict lower rates in broader American society (based on males being much more likely to commit assault, and the strong trend toward desistance from crime by the time a person turns 35 or so).
Intuitively that doesn’t seem like the right base rate to me, even if the reference class is the whole of society? If the average woman considering getting involved in EA is in her early to mid twenties (e.g. the average female EAG attendee was 28 I believe), I would guess that the average age of the men she interacts with would be much lower than the population average? Especially if she is a student.
In terms of the reference class I had in mind, it was something like, ’for a given cluster of EAs that are attached to another subculture, EAs would have on average less sexism and abuse than that subculture within. So e.g. EAs within the tech scene, EAs within the Burning Man scene, within various academic scenes, etc. Interested in your thoughts on that.
I don’t have the data to speculate—that’s why we need robust data collection.
The comment that started this discussion was:
From the original commenter’s perspective, he would likely advise his friends in comparison to age-matched society as a whole (not adjusting for gender imbalance in EA, not adjusting for EAs being attached to high-sexism/abuse subcultures.”
The commenter’s statement isn’t inconsistent with the hypothesis that (e.g.) EAs within the tech scene display less sexism and abuse than people in the tech scene as a whole. It’s plausible that EAs tend to be “attached to . . . subculture[s]” that have very high rates of sexism and abuse relative to age-matched members of society as whole. There could be lower rates of sexism and abuse among EAs in those subcultures than among other subculture members . . . but still high compared to age-matched society as a whole.