Best-Of Advice

On statistical claims

What do you think about the claim that lesbian couples have a higher incidence of domestic violence than straight couples?


I don’t think much of anything about statistical claims without a source, and regardless of the numbers (or the methods used to determine those numbers), I’m much more interested in whatever underlying belief would cause a person to cite a given statistic.

So, here’s the better question: If lesbian couples do, in fact, have a higher incidence of domestic violence than straight couples, what does that make true for you? What belief does it reinforce? What belief does it refute? What does that say about you as a person?

This is the kind of statistic that a gay rights activist might use to highlight a need for more social services with regard to a particularly underserved segment of the population. Okay, fine. I can get behind that.

Unfortunately, this is also the kind of statistic that a men’s rights activist might use to reinforce his belief that women are more culpable than men with regard to their roles in domestic violence. If that’s the angle, then dude needs to step the fuck back.

Point is, if somebody is coming at you with statistics, it’s because they literally have something to prove. Make them prove it and then make them tell you why, because the numbers themselves are almost always less important than the reason someone wishes they were higher or lower.

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