Statistics and lies

Statistics don’t lie, but the people who interpret them do. Take for example this story in the Stars and Stripes from Associated Press about the disappropriate response of the military against lesbians entitled “Women more likely to be expelled under ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ ”

Women are far more likely than men to be kicked out of the military under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy against gays in uniform, according to government figures released Thursday that critics said reflect deep-seated sexism in the armed forces.

Women accounted for 15 percent of all active-duty and reserve members of the military but more than one-third of the 619 people discharged last year because of their sexual orientation.

Throughout the article, the author, Lisa Leff, tells us that lesbians are booted from the military at a higher rate than males as she breaks down the service-by-service numbers.

“It’s very clear the military comes down harder on women than on men, but the question of whether they come down harder on lesbians than on gay men is harder to answer,” said Palm Center director Aaron Belkin. “We don’t know whether the statistics reflect lesbian-baiting or just a higher rate of lesbians in the military.”

Then why even bring it up? You know it could be that a larger percentage of ALL women are lesbians than men are gay. It could be that more lesbians are attracted to military service than gay men are attracted to military service.

But, of course, rather than discussing the different answers to the questions, Leff would rather blame sexually frustrated men;

But Frank and some women who served in the military said the gap could also be a result of “lesbian-baiting” rumors and investigations that arise when women rebuff sexual overtures from male colleagues or do not meet traditional notions of feminine beauty.

“Often times the lesbians under my command were under scrutiny by the same men who were also sexually harassing straight women, so it was this kind of sexist undercurrent of ’You don’t belong here,’” said Anuradha Bhagwati, a former Marine who founded the Service Women’s Action Network, an advocacy group.

The only variants of the explanations that are discussed are based on personal observations while Leff makes it appear linked to the math.

CNN’s Adam Levine left it like this;

Of those discharged under the policy, 36 percent were women, although women make up only 14 percent of troops in the Army, the data showed.

I suppose he thinks that the Army should have quotas, or bounties, to balance the numbers. For every lesbian they boot, the Army has to find seven gays to keep it proportionate.

Category: Military issues