( CNN ) -- Here 's a factoid many people know but few seem to understand : Alaska has the highest ratio of men to women in the United States . Several of you tweeted and e-mailed me that data point after I published a series of stories on the fact that Alaska also has the highest rate of reported rape in the country . Maybe the superlatives are related ? you wondered . Here 's a quick sample of comments I got on Twitter : . • `` I lived in Anchorage . It was about 10 men to one woman per capita in the 80s , a lot of bars , partying . Last frontier mentality . '' • `` Highest male to female ratio , too . Very masculine culture . Needs to change male behavior there . '' • `` This is because there are about 12 men to every woman . Odds are good but the goods are odd ! I lived there , I know ! '' It 's true there are more men in Alaska than women , but the situation is n't nearly as extreme in reality as it is in the popular imagination . There are 107 men in Alaska for every 100 women , according to 2013 estimates from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development ( Excel ) . That 's an estimated 380,741 males and 355,658 females . The difference : 25,083 . An imbalance , sure . But does it explain the high rape rate ? No way , said Andre Rosay , director of the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center . I invited Rosay to a live online chat with readers about this question and others . `` The Alaska rates of violence against women are much higher than they are elsewhere , '' he wrote . `` The difference in the men to women ratio is n't big enough to account for the astoundingly high rates of violence that we see here in Alaska . '' There remain some areas of the state , such as the Aleutian Islands , where only a third of the population is female , according to a 2012 research brief to the Alaska State Legislature ( PDF ) . But the statewide ratio is shrinking toward insignificance . `` While the ratio of men to women in Alaska is still higher than any other state in the country , it is much smaller than a hundred years ago , when men outnumbered women nearly 2½ to one , '' the brief says . `` The percentage of women in the population has grown over the past century , currently making up about 48 % of the state 's population . According to the U.S. Census Bureau , women comprise 50.8 % of the national population . '' As I detailed in my series for the Change the List project ( more at CNN.com/Change ) , there are a number of complicated reasons Alaska is dangerous for women , from its long , dark winters to high rates of alcohol abuse and , perhaps more important than either , an awful history of cultural trauma and colonial violence . The ratio alone ca n't explain it . And it 's not the statistic we should be focusing on . Alaska 's reported rape rate is three times the national average . State surveys show that an estimated 37 % of women in Alaska suffer from sexual violence -- and nearly six in 10 suffer from sexual and/or intimate partner violence , which includes threats of violence . The governor told me the situation is an `` epidemic . '' I 'm open to the possibility that the men-to-women ratio may affect the odds that men in Alaska will be able to find lasting relationships . This has long been a favorite topic for newspaper reporters , who write about the ratio with a sort of faux-fascination . `` There they were , '' a New York Times reporter wrote of women in a Nome , Alaska , bar in 2004 , `` an oasis in the Arctic , shooting pool , giving out phone numbers , dashing off to the restroom to apply lipstick , coquettishly sipping drinks bought by their suitors , including a popular cocktail , 'Love Me Tender , ' made with gin and peach vodka . ... Summer is a time of hope for the unattached men of Nome , '' the article continues , `` a tough gold rush town of 3,500 people in Alaska 's far western corner , where single men outnumber single women by almost two to one . '' In 2012 , the Washington Post sent two single female reporters to Alaska . `` The fishermen descend almost before we even make it through the door of the rattletrap bar . They beg us for a game of pool , conversation , anything . '' These reporters did n't mean any harm , and I get that Alaska is rugged and strange . It really is the `` Last Frontier '' state , a remote place where plumbing is n't a given and people fend for themselves in extreme conditions . Alaska is no mecca for single ladies , though . Instead of gawking at the ratio , we should be talking about ending the violence . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John D. Sutter .
Alaska has the highest men-to-women ratio in the country . John Sutter says the ratio does n't explain high rates of violence against women . Alaska also has the nation 's highest reported rape rate : three times the national average . Sutter : http://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-sutter-alaska-rape-rate-is-highest-in-u-s/ Comment: I'm not sure if you're asking about this, but there are