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

I did not, I actually did not think about the scientist at all. I was distracted by the tiny cat. CAT!

At no point did I think of the scientists gender. I don’t think I ever have considered the gender of a scientist.

Hell another cat could’ve discovered this cat and I’d never know until someone mentioned it.

Holy fucking strawman

And here I was imagining a diverse group of scientists, because science is rarely done by just one person anyway.

what's... what's going on here?

For context on the original Tumblr post, which I know I reblogged but can't seem to find, was discourse surrounding the headlines saying we've "discovered" something that already existed, which in turn led to users generalizing these scientists as old white guys who don't respect where these discoveries are made.

This other post I could find says it better than I.

Have people been assuming they're a white guy?

I can't even really think of a context when discussing the cat when the scientists gender and especially race would come up?

https://xkcd.com/2071/

Not only did I not assume that but this is also the first time I've stooped so low as to waste time discussing whether or not we think a scientist is a white guy based on their name.

P.S. Has anybody ever in their life met a white guy named Paola?

The name is Paola not Paolo so that should have been a hint right there.

I want to snuggle with the kitty.

What kind of white guy has a feminine Latina name?

Most biologist are women if I recall correctly.

If someone talks me about a discovery in biology I think my mind would automatically picture a woman as the author.

Thank you to those who tried to translate for the contextually bereft.

I just thought it was cool to see a picure of the person who identified our new Babu.

Pspspspspspspspspspspspsps

Then there's me, knowing about Mary Somerville, confused, because the word was invented to include women. The term before was 'man of science' and it so seemed inappropriate a term for Mary. Hence: 'scientist'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Somerville