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In the article Political hashtags like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter make people less likely to believe the news, there is a comment that this research studies:

To say one gender over another experiences harassment more is an understatement! I feel it happens just as much for each gender, but more are afraid to say anything.

What does "more are afraid to say anything" mean? I speculate that it means "I'm afraid to say anything more". Is that correct?

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  • More people of the gender which apparently has less harrassment, who don't report it.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Mar 21, 2021 at 16:50
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    That comment is not well written. I'm not even confident that I understand what the person wanted to say because the two sentences appear to contradict each other. From the context, I would guess that the bolded phrases is supposed to mean, "men are more afraid than women to report sexual harassment." But this is not good English, so you should not try to write or speak this way.
    – Juhasz
    Commented Mar 21, 2021 at 16:54
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    This is a comment, not part of the article. Maybe the commenter missed a word out - perhaps 'more women are afraid to say anything'?
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Mar 21, 2021 at 16:56

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To say one gender over another experiences harassment more is an understatement! I feel it happens just as much for each gender, but more are afraid to say anything.

The first sentence by the 'understatement' confirms the lopsided-ness in the number of cases experienced by the 2 genders.

The writer in the second sentence says 'it happens just as much for each gender'.

This is a contradiction.

What 'more are afraid to say anything' means hence is hard to determine, as it depends on the resolution of this contradiction.

This clause is not what you interpreted. Being part of the second sentence, it means a group of the perceived less-harassed gender is afraid to say anything; 'more' refers to people of that group.

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