Someone left this ugly comment on Hacker News:
Again, biology has predictive power in the realm of IQ distribution by gender. The bell curve for male IQs is wider but flatter than female IQs, which could explain why there are more men than women in physics, a profession with the largest demands for exceptional intelligence. It also explains why there are more homeless men than there are homeless women.
So, yeah, no, this is not remotely why there are more men than women on the street. Here are some of the facts:
Women tend to get custody of children. Relatives and all of society try to keep children off the street. This helps keep the custodial parent off the street as well. The custodial parent is much more likely to be female than male.
Women are much more likely to be members of the hidden homeless rather than outright "street people." They are much more likely to be doing things like couch surfing rather than camping out.
There are complex reasons for this. Part of it is that friends and relatives are much more concerned about a woman being out on the street. Part of it is that women tend to have a much harder time on the street, so they do their best to avoid it.
If a woman is still young enough to be menstruating, this is a pain to deal with while homeless and something men don't have to deal with. Women are at increased risk of being raped while homeless.
Women tend to make less money than men, generally speaking. Men who are on the street often seem able to come up with some money to keep themselves fed and have some beer. Women who are street people seem to generally have a much, much harder time getting the resources they need compared to relatively able bodied men on the street.
There is also an element of agency in play here that is hard to explain. Men have more freedom of choice than women. This means that to some extent going and being homeless instead of putting up with an abusive situation (for example) is something men are more empowered to do.
In some sense, me being on the street is a choice. I wish I had better choices available to me. I don't. But I have had worse ones available.
I have had a few people offer me a place to stay, either women acquaintances offering me something that would have harmed my health (and I am on the street to get myself well, so no thank you) or men basically looking to make me their bitch. Men who figured I was so poor, I would even consider sleeping with them in exchange for a place to stay. They were wrong.
I did briefly know another homeless woman in downtown San Diego who only spent a few days on the street because she rapidly arranged to find some man to move in with. At least, it is my understanding she was homeless only a few days. She told me she would soon be off the street because she was moving in with a guy. I did not see her again after that.
Generally speaking, this is not an option men on the street have -- or it is less of an option. Both my sons were offered a place to stay, but by an elderly gay man. Neither of them swings that way and turned him down.
It's complicated and there are many factors. But, no, it is not that there are more retarded men than retarded women and that's why there are more men on the street. The very lopsided ratio of male to female homeless individuals is mostly about sociocultural factors and a little bit about how female biology is damnably inconvenient on the street. Even just peeing in the bushes is more complicated for a woman than for a man.
Again, biology has predictive power in the realm of IQ distribution by gender. The bell curve for male IQs is wider but flatter than female IQs, which could explain why there are more men than women in physics, a profession with the largest demands for exceptional intelligence. It also explains why there are more homeless men than there are homeless women.
So, yeah, no, this is not remotely why there are more men than women on the street. Here are some of the facts:
Women tend to get custody of children. Relatives and all of society try to keep children off the street. This helps keep the custodial parent off the street as well. The custodial parent is much more likely to be female than male.
Women are much more likely to be members of the hidden homeless rather than outright "street people." They are much more likely to be doing things like couch surfing rather than camping out.
There are complex reasons for this. Part of it is that friends and relatives are much more concerned about a woman being out on the street. Part of it is that women tend to have a much harder time on the street, so they do their best to avoid it.
If a woman is still young enough to be menstruating, this is a pain to deal with while homeless and something men don't have to deal with. Women are at increased risk of being raped while homeless.
Women tend to make less money than men, generally speaking. Men who are on the street often seem able to come up with some money to keep themselves fed and have some beer. Women who are street people seem to generally have a much, much harder time getting the resources they need compared to relatively able bodied men on the street.
There is also an element of agency in play here that is hard to explain. Men have more freedom of choice than women. This means that to some extent going and being homeless instead of putting up with an abusive situation (for example) is something men are more empowered to do.
In some sense, me being on the street is a choice. I wish I had better choices available to me. I don't. But I have had worse ones available.
I have had a few people offer me a place to stay, either women acquaintances offering me something that would have harmed my health (and I am on the street to get myself well, so no thank you) or men basically looking to make me their bitch. Men who figured I was so poor, I would even consider sleeping with them in exchange for a place to stay. They were wrong.
I did briefly know another homeless woman in downtown San Diego who only spent a few days on the street because she rapidly arranged to find some man to move in with. At least, it is my understanding she was homeless only a few days. She told me she would soon be off the street because she was moving in with a guy. I did not see her again after that.
Generally speaking, this is not an option men on the street have -- or it is less of an option. Both my sons were offered a place to stay, but by an elderly gay man. Neither of them swings that way and turned him down.
It's complicated and there are many factors. But, no, it is not that there are more retarded men than retarded women and that's why there are more men on the street. The very lopsided ratio of male to female homeless individuals is mostly about sociocultural factors and a little bit about how female biology is damnably inconvenient on the street. Even just peeing in the bushes is more complicated for a woman than for a man.