Women say some rape victims should take blame - survey

[One_Life_To_Give]

30. Guess my life experience is a bit different

I have seen many people who were born, have lived and will probably be buried in the same town. The locals call me a "blow in" because I have only lived in my current town for 15 years.

What seems most difficult to accept is that we have any idea what the form of the data should take without any evidence indicating one way or the other. Of-course I am biased and expect in mathematical terms the lifetime risk is a summation of the time spent exposed to each individual risk level. 1 day in Chelsea contributes X, one day in Deerfield is Y, and one date with male not otherwise specified is Z. Which I expect to produce something like a normalized distribution curve when plotted for each woman's individual lifetime risk. Either way knowing is important. Strategies for combating and evaluation the results of such depends upon accurately understanding the form of the data.

As to what started this. Assuming 20% of women in the US have been victimized. The probability that in any random group of 4 women exactly 3 have been victims is 2.4%, or 2.56% for three or more. Not unheard of but not common. If the rate is double either as a result of under reporting, location or by changing from random to 83yr old women (assumed life expectancy). Then we get a 25.6% probability of exactly 3. Thats just an FYI for you, I don't want to know your details.

To me fixing the problem is only hurt by assuming and/or guessing what the data must be. We can speculate as to causes and possible fix's. But without objective data there is no way to prioritize actions and measure results.