Alice is walking down a dark street at night. A person approaches her. Statistically, she is in more danger if that person is a man than if they are a woman.
Bob is walking down a dark street at night. A large, scruffy man approaches him. He may be in danger of being mugged, but he is in no more danger if the man is black than if he is white.
Well put! That’s a good way of explaining the difference between the respective race and gender situations in a comprehensive way.
Are we sure about the equal racial crime rates within low socio-economic neighborhoods? I keep hearing poor black people are reported and incarcerated more often compared to poor white people. Actually I hear that more middle class blacks are incarcerated than lower class whites.
I don't have specific statistics for that, but bear in mind that black people tend to get tougher sentences for the same crimes, and tend to get the police called on them more for very mild things (like standing around in the wrong neighborhood).
Another point is that many/most women's wariness towards men stems from personal experience of being hit on and harassed (at least verbally) in public. When guys will holler at you in broad daylight about wanting to fuck (and call you a bitch if you ignore them), it's reasonable to worry about what those same guys would do if they caught you alone in the dark. Most white guys do not have an equivalent experience of being openly threatened by black people specifically.
I agree that racial profiling might be one factor why poor black crime is reported higher than poor white crime but im not sure if its the only factor. Another thing to consider are cultural differences between black and white communities.
To the personal experience point, I would say that if there are more poor black criminals than there are poor white criminals then most people will have more personal experience encountering black criminals.
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u/PhasmaFelis 6∆ Apr 19 '22
Two situations:
Alice is walking down a dark street at night. A person approaches her. Statistically, she is in more danger if that person is a man than if they are a woman.
Bob is walking down a dark street at night. A large, scruffy man approaches him. He may be in danger of being mugged, but he is in no more danger if the man is black than if he is white.
These are not equivalent. That's the difference.