You know, we’ve had to put up with sexism from our patriarchal oppressors for years. But we’ll be damned if we’ll allow ourselves to just sit back and take it from our weather!
Sexism kills. Literally. Why 'female' hurricanes have higher fatalities: http://t.co/s0HUC2bkH5 (h/t @sachristiano)
— Ruiyong Chen (@ruiyongchen) June 2, 2014
Serious, you guys:
Why hurricanes with women's names kill more people than do those with men's http://t.co/zfw7PcJIB5 pic.twitter.com/vq7kLFycqN
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) June 2, 2014
People assume hurricanes with female names are less dangerous, resulting in more deaths: study http://t.co/b8BWSbwypO pic.twitter.com/nYNvfyPMAO
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 2, 2014
Hurricanes with female names kill more people. Here's why. http://t.co/IVDoruRwYI
— Vox (@voxdotcom) June 2, 2014
Study: Female-named hurricanes kill more because people don't consider them as risky as male ones http://t.co/MNRpd8BpBt
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 2, 2014
Via The Washington Post:
Researchers at the University of Illinois and Arizona State University examined six decades of hurricane death rates according to gender, spanning 1950 and 2012. Of the 47 most damaging hurricanes, the male-named hurricane produced an average of 23 deaths compared to 45 deaths for female-named hurricanes, or almost double the number of fatalities. (The study excluded Katrina and Audrey, outlier storms that would skew the model).
There’s only one possible explanation for this: Sexism!!!11!
The difference in death rates between genders was even more pronounced when comparing strongly masculine names versus strongly female ones.
“[Our] model suggests that changing a severe hurricane’s name from Charley … to Eloise … could nearly triple its death toll,” the study says.Sharon Shavitt, study co-author and professor of marketing at the University of Illinois, says the results imply an “implicit sexism”; that is, we make decisions about storms based on the gender of their name without even recognizing it.
Clearly the time and money spent on this “study” were well worth it. Except not even remotely.
https://twitter.com/twhit210/status/473552844184768512
https://twitter.com/BathsaltsShawty/status/473559716430618624
https://twitter.com/michaelbuss/status/473558619145768960
HOLY CRAP NOT THE ONION http://t.co/0XypMsf3X2
— meredithfineman (@MeredithFineman) June 2, 2014
The stupid, it burns! "Female-named hurricanes kill more than male hurricanes because people don’t respect them" http://t.co/7y5HZeZqqj
— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) June 2, 2014
So painfully asinine. It’s actually hurting our brains.
https://twitter.com/dondalynn/status/473551088365215744
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/473544239683342336
Only a little common sense:
Everyone RTing the female hurricane name thing, @edyong209 uncovered that it's statistically flawed & prob untrue. http://t.co/lxuQD14kAm
— Ed Grabianowski (@robotviking) June 2, 2014
And a lot of snark can save us now:
And here come the female-named hurricane jokes and misogyny against hurricanes quips…
— Lorena O'Neil (@lorenaoneil) June 2, 2014
And not a moment too soon!
#BanFemaleNames RT @RBPundit: There's apparently a heternormative patriarchy with hurricanes.
— Heather Needs More Slush (@MomTo6Lambs) June 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/ashtenthinks/status/473551175292579840
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/473552442626277376
@RBPundit Great, tell them female hurricanes to make me a sammich!!
— Mike Bullard (@bullimusmaximus) June 2, 2014
https://twitter.com/ChrisBarnhart/status/473553258124812288
Teehee!
@charlescwcooke So it would be better if the LESS potent hurricanes were named for women?
— Brian Faughnan (@BrianFaughnan) June 2, 2014
Oh, snap.
Editor’s note: This post has been update with additional tweets.
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