About 3% of American men have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime, vs ~19% of women.
https://ncadv.org/STATISTICS has data specifically on intimate partner violence, that is, the subject of the interventions in this post. Women are more affected than men in all categories of violence listed there.
These are just two data sources… but I find it enough gruesome stats for a day.
I think that comparisons about which is a greater scale and which is more neglected is unlikely to be solved in this thread.
I focused on violence against women and girls because the root causes, types of violence and interventions for violence against women and violence against men were sufficiently different that it did not make sense to consider them together.
However, I would certainly be interested in seeing a report on violence against men; I have relatively little knowledge on the field, so don’t feel qualified to make claims about whether it might be a promising cause area.
While it’s true that women are more likely to be victims of sexual violence, men are more likely to be victims of non-sexual violence, such as murder and aggravated assault.
Yes, men are more likely to be victims of non-sexual violence, but you are omitting a fact of vital relevance in all this, resulting in a biased opinion. While the majority of men murdered are at the hands of other men who are strangers to them, the percentage of women who are killed by their partner or their family is around 50% every year on a global scale (1) (2)
Also is the fact that “while men are more likely than women to be victims of homicide, they are even more likely to be the perpetrators.”
Recognizing the gender disparities in terms of understanding the kind of violence that occurs is key to ending it. We must not only look at the victims but also at who the aggressors are, and seek a solution always taking into account the power dynamics that are embedded in the construction of gender and its oppression and discrimination.
I notice that this comment was pretty controversial (16 people voted, karma of 3). Here is how I would rewrite this comment to better fit in the EA forum:
Yes, this is true that men are more likely to be victims of non-sexual violence. However, note that most men are killed by other men, whereas a large number of the women who are killed (50% according to the UN) are killed by their partners or family. (1) (2). So “while men are more likely than women to be victims of homicide, they are even more likely to be the perpetrators.”
I think that recognizing gender disparities is important for understanding what kind of violence occurs, and that that this is key to ending it because [and here goes a few specific pathways]. For example, if we look at the power dynamics between aggressors and victims, we can [do some example specific thing differently.] [1]
I think that for me the thing that was most missing is a pathway between noticing gender disparities and taking a different action, rather than caring about it in the abstract. I haven’t really looked, but this might also be what’s going on in some of your other unpopular comments.
For a toy example of something you might say: “If we look at the power dynamics between aggressors and victims, we might notice that a specific cluster of violence is husbands beating up or murdering their wifes, and we can do things like putting up billboards encouraging women to leave their abusive husbands. This seems like it would have a different cost-effectiveness profile than other kinds of murders, and I personally think (but can’t prove/and here is a study that suggests that this is the case) that it might be pretty cost-effective.”
Doesn’t this get the burden of proof wrong? I find it awful that we so often ask victims to prove that they really are victims.
After this rant, here you go:
rainn.org has statistics for the US. They say for example that:
82% of all juvenile rape victims are female.
90% of adult rape victims are female.
About 3% of American men have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime, vs ~19% of women.
https://ncadv.org/STATISTICS has data specifically on intimate partner violence, that is, the subject of the interventions in this post. Women are more affected than men in all categories of violence listed there.
These are just two data sources… but I find it enough gruesome stats for a day.
I think that comparisons about which is a greater scale and which is more neglected is unlikely to be solved in this thread.
I focused on violence against women and girls because the root causes, types of violence and interventions for violence against women and violence against men were sufficiently different that it did not make sense to consider them together.
However, I would certainly be interested in seeing a report on violence against men; I have relatively little knowledge on the field, so don’t feel qualified to make claims about whether it might be a promising cause area.
While it’s true that women are more likely to be victims of sexual violence, men are more likely to be victims of non-sexual violence, such as murder and aggravated assault.
Murder is not a global top-10 cause of death or suffering. Sexual abuse could very much be a global top-10 cause of suffering based on Akhil’s post.
Yes, men are more likely to be victims of non-sexual violence, but you are omitting a fact of vital relevance in all this, resulting in a biased opinion. While the majority of men murdered are at the hands of other men who are strangers to them, the percentage of women who are killed by their partner or their family is around 50% every year on a global scale (1) (2)
Also is the fact that “while men are more likely than women to be victims of homicide, they are even more likely to be the perpetrators.”
Recognizing the gender disparities in terms of understanding the kind of violence that occurs is key to ending it. We must not only look at the victims but also at who the aggressors are, and seek a solution always taking into account the power dynamics that are embedded in the construction of gender and its oppression and discrimination.
I notice that this comment was pretty controversial (16 people voted, karma of 3). Here is how I would rewrite this comment to better fit in the EA forum:
I think that for me the thing that was most missing is a pathway between noticing gender disparities and taking a different action, rather than caring about it in the abstract. I haven’t really looked, but this might also be what’s going on in some of your other unpopular comments.
For a toy example of something you might say: “If we look at the power dynamics between aggressors and victims, we might notice that a specific cluster of violence is husbands beating up or murdering their wifes, and we can do things like putting up billboards encouraging women to leave their abusive husbands. This seems like it would have a different cost-effectiveness profile than other kinds of murders, and I personally think (but can’t prove/and here is a study that suggests that this is the case) that it might be pretty cost-effective.”