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[–] 96 points 6 days ago (18 children)

I don't know a lot of people who assume the name Paola is male. This feels like a strawman argument.

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  • [–] 38 points 6 days ago (5 children)

    This is definitely a self-tell. They will see an article or comments that only refers to her as a "scientist" with no gender and assume the article or person is referring to them as male because that's what they think when they see "scientist".

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  • [–] 24 points 6 days ago (3 children)

    For context, there is a trend of correcting people saying scientists to "white man", because articles frame discoveries as "scientists discover x" when "x" had been widely known by the local population since that population got there.

    However, this argument is fucking stupid because science has, famously, not categorized and described everything that exists, even if non scientists already know about it.

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  • [–] 15 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    And most importantly, major publications are specifically not framing this as a discovery, but as a documentation.

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  • [–] 6 points 5 days ago

    Yes, they discovered that it was a new species. If I had a rock on my desk for 20 years then one day ran a test that discovered it was a new element, I could say I discovered a new element even though I knew the rock existed.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 days ago

    That's kind of self-referential gaslighting. How can you tell if society is progressing in awareness (which it is) if every time you see "scientist" you think "white man" and justify it as assuming they were racist enough to put that? (Not you, the person we are talking about.)

    That idea that "scientists discover x" being a substitute is correct, but is well-known today because it is a historical trend that was described by modern academics. Not a rampant current issue (despite single examples one might be able to find).

    All I'm saying is that progress starts with the institution and the reader and should meet somewhere in the middle. The reader assuming this is what articles mean downright perpetuates the problem.

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  • [–] 9 points 5 days ago (3 children)

    yeah I don't think I've heard of anyone confusing who the scientist is. I also don't get why anyone would think an event happening in Bolivia would include white people

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  • [–] 12 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    It's about the story: scientists discovered a new cat species and named it Tilcayo, after the name the locals call it.
    Reactions were:

    • So it hasn't been discovered, just put on an official list
    • Do you mean discovered for white guys?
    • Finally someone asked the locals!

    Second type of reaction is probably what caused OPs post

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  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago

    Besides, afaik, they only decided it's a new species after an extensive genetic test, so the fact that locals called it something doesn't mean that even locals knew it was different from similar cats. It feels more like naming a new cat species 'cat' in local language

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  • [+] -11 points 6 days ago (7 children)

    I don't know anyone who would see a hyphenated last name and assume it's a male.

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  • [–] 16 points 6 days ago (3 children)

    There are many cultures where having two last names or a hyphenated last name is pretty normal for any gender.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

    Yes, but people are bad at making assumptions that are globally accurate

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  • [–] 9 points 6 days ago (1 child)

    My only point was that many people wouldn't think twice about the gender of a person because of a hyphenated last name. It's not even necessarily that common with married women tbh.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 days ago

    You're right. I suspect the numbers are very similar for all genders, and most people wouldn't make any gendered assumptions based on it.

    But of those who do make an assumption, I would expect it to favor women due to the way last names are traditionally chosen and how that's changing culturally in western countries.

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