A new study out on Monday makes an audacious claim: Hurricanes can be made safer just by changing their names. If you haven’t seen this headline yet, I defy you to guess the reason. Go on … OK, fine. I’ll tell you, but you won’t believe me. Published in the…prettyarbitrary linked to this important article, which I thought deserved it’s own post.
In a nutshell, an article in a journal argued that hurricanes with female names were more deadly (because sexism made people less afraid of them), only…
they analysed hurricane data from 1950, but hurricanes all had female names at first.
Minor detail, huh?
…Surely they didn’t.
Oh my god.
*retreats to her rage cave*
Hurricanes Named After Women Are More Dangerous? Not So Fast.