yellow dress

I am Chloe, and I am a bunch of words.
I am an intersectional feminist, a secular humanist, an atheist, pro-choice, left-wing, sex+, a mental health and disabilities advocate, a skeptic and a freethinker.
I am a black belt, an artist, a gamer, a tea-drinker and a cat-lover.
I love yellow, the Simpsons, Harry Potter, manga/anime, kinkiness, P!nk, costumes, quotes and gaming.
I also run a tumblr solely for funny stuff, steampunkbanana (linked below).

[CW: rape, discussion of false allegations]

lavenderlabia:

stunglikehell:

graffitiandrobutissin:

I’ve noticed lately that a lot of MRAs and such are quoting a study done by Prof. Kanin (formerly a prof at Purdue) who found that 40% of rape accusations are false.

I think it’s really important everyone know where these numbers are coming from and why they’re straight up BS.

Kanin did one nine-year study in an UNNAMED town (so no way to verify it) in the 80s, with only 109 participants, and forced all of them to take a lie detector test, which we know to be extremely inconsistent and manipulative for victims. Furthermore, any recanting was marked as a “false report” and we know there are any number of reasons that rape victims recant testimonies.

Another study done by the Air Force in the 80s claims that 65% of rape victims are lying. But again, when victims came forward they were immediately told they would have to take a Lie Detector test to prove it, and roughly 65% of them backed off and said the rape hadn’t happened. Again, lie detector tests are extremely manipulative, and there are a million reasons why a victim would not want to undergo that.

This, more comprehensive, recent, and scientifically sound study done by the FBI shows that about 8% of accusations are unfounded. As unfounded does not mean false, it is reasonable to conclude that less than 8% of accusations are false.

The largest study done was done by the British Home Office in 2003, and it found accusations to be about 3%, which is lower than the average of other crimes.

In conclusion the number of false rape accusations is most likely between 2-8%, which puts it no higher than other crimes.

In conclusion of my conclusion, MRAs, please shut up forever.

“And notably, people who falsely file claims usually do not name specific individuals, but instead “involve only a vaguely described stranger. These research findings support the theory that people who falsely allege rape do so not out of desire for revenge against a specific person, but because they seek general attention and sympathy.” [Source]

So not only is the number of “false” rape accusations incredibly smaller than 40 percent, but an even smaller number accounts for accusers who specifically named an individual as their rapist. Which makes you wonder about all those dudes online who have a friend whose life was totally ruined by a false rape accusation. If you consider plain statistical probability, it’s much more likely that your friend is a rapist who got away with it than that he was falsely accused of being a rapist.

Bolded because that is the truest shit I’ve read in a long time.

It’s also a good time to bring this back to the fore.

Number of atheists around the world is rising

atheism-:

According to the latest global poll released by RedC Opinion Poll, part of WIN-Gallup International, a world-wide network of leading opinion pollsters, the number of self-declared atheists in the world has risen by 9% since the measure was last taken in 2005.

The massive poll, conducted in 57 countries (not, apparently, including Britain) among 51,000 people asked a single question “Irrespective of whether you attend a place of worship or not, would you say you are a religious person, not a religious person or a convinced atheist?”

It shows that on average 59% of the world said that they think of themselves as religious, whereas 23% think of themselves as not religious and 13% think of themselves as convinced atheists. Naturally there are enormous variations from country to country.

The countries with most self-described atheists are China (47%); Japan (31%), Czech Republic (30%), France (29%), South Korea (15%), Germany (15%), Netherlands (14%), Austria (10%), Iceland (10%), Australia (10%) and Ireland (10%).

The most religious countries are: Ghana (where 96% of people define themselves as religious), Nigeria (93%), Armenia (92%), Fiji (92%), Macedonia (90%), Romania (89%), Iraq (88%), Kenya (88%), Peru (86%) and Brazil (85%).

One of the most dramatic reductions in the proportion of the population considering themselves religious occurred in Ireland: from 69% in 2005 to 47% in 2012, placing Ireland on the index of religious belief at position 43 out of 57 countries.

The poll also showed that the poorer people were, the more likely they were to be religious.

One anomaly that the pollsters have themselves questioned is in Turkey, where those who say they are religious is only 23% while those defining themselves as non-religious is 73% (self-defined atheists 2%).

Read the whole poll and analysis here.

(Source: secularism.org.uk)

eduardo-:

Anybody who thinks that Sharks are ruthless killers of humans (especially in Australia given the current Great White controversy) - your position is greatly incorrect.

Here’s some things you’re more likely to be killed by than any of the Selachimorphs - of which there is about 360 extant species, only 4 of which are classified as “presenting viable danger to humans” - to put it into perspective:

You are, on average, over 180 times more likely to be killed by a Hippopotamus than you are to be by a Shark.

You are around 375 times more likely to be killed by having a crash sending a text message whilst in charge of a vehicle than you are to be by a Shark. Bear in mind, texting has only existed in its current form since around 1992.

You are very nearly 38 times more likely to be killed by misadventure during autoerotic asphyxiation than you are to be by a Shark.

You are over 6 times more likely to be killed by an icicle falling and impaling you in Russia alone than you are to be by a Shark anywhere globally.

You are over 28 times more likely to be killed by the impact of falling out of your own bed than you are to be by a Shark.

You are around twice as likely to be killed by Ants than you are by a Shark.

You are approximately as likely to be killed by a vending machine as you are by a Shark.

You are around twice as likely to be killed by a dog in the United States than you are by a Shark anywhere in the world.

You are more than twice as likely to be killed by a Jellyfish on a holiday to the Philippines than you are by a Shark anywhere in the world.

You are around 625 times more likely to be killed by a lightning strike than you are by a Shark.

You are around 53 times more likely to be killed by a Volcano eruption than you are by a Shark.

You are more likely to be killed playing high school football in the United States than you are by a Shark anywhere on the planet.

And my personal favourite — you are more likely to be killed by your own or somebody else’s Christmas tree than you are to be by a Shark. This statistic only takes into account the US national average - it is not a global figure as Shark fatalities are.

This is working on a basis of 16 average fatalities annually by Shark attack - the true figure is actually much smaller than this. The total number of people killed by any of the Shark species since 1580 is 471 - more people are killed as a result of gang violence in the United States in the space of two weeks.

By comparison, we kill hundreds of millions of them annually and live in a perpetual state of fear any time the sea enters our collective consciousness. Who, then, is the irrational and horrible killer? If anything, we’re the ones who need to be at account.

Have a look at the FLMNH Ichthyology Shark Attack File: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/statistics/GAttack/World.htm

It’s a lot to do with the Jaws movie(s) :( I for one am terrified of sharks, but holy shit I will goddamn advocate the banning of shark fin soup. There was a front page news article once about something like ~zomg~ 3 shark attacks in a year in Aus or something, and the very last little sentence was a reminder of how many sharks are killed by humans, and how unlikely it is to be killed by a shark. The more you know.

Oh and emphasis mine.

thepeoplesrecord:

The United States has ranked the nation with the highest amount of preventable deaths.

Researcher Ellen Nolte said the large number of Americans who lack any type of health insurance — about 47 million people in a country of about 300 million, according to U.S. government estimates — probably was a key factor in the poor showing of the United States compared to other industrialized nations in the study.

“I wouldn’t say it (the last-place ranking) is a condemnation, because I think health care in the U.S. is pretty good if you have access. But if you don’t, I think that’s the main problem, isn’t it?” Nolte said in a telephone interview. via

(Source: thepeoplesrecord)

(Source: stfuconservatives)

"Every year, 9 million children die before their fifth birthday. A woman in sub-Saharan Africa has a one-in-thirty chance of dying while giving birth - in the developed world, the chance is one in 5,600. There are at least twenty-five countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, where the average person is expected to live no more than thirty-five years. In India alone, more than 50 million school-going children cannot read a very simple text.
This is the kind of paragraph that might make you want to shut this book and, ideally, forget about this whole business of world poverty. The problem seems too big, too intractable. Our goal with this book is to persuade you not to."

— Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo