According to research by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences most people wouldn’t take hurricanes with feminine names as seriously as those with male ones.
The research found that female-named hurricanes are even deadlier than male-named hurricanes. It leads to people being less prepared due to a lower perceived risk.
The research looked at over six decades of hurricane deaths. They compared the data on the effects male and female named hurricanes had from 1950 to 2012.
According to The Washington Post,
“Of the 47 most damaging hurricanes, the female-named hurricanes produced an average of 45 deaths compared to 23 deaths in male-named storms, or almost double the number of fatalities.”
They even added that, “The difference in death rates between genders was even more pronounced when comparing strongly masculine names versus strongly feminine ones.”
With the recent surge in public panic, from the numerous natural disasters that have occurred, its illogical to judge a natural disaster’s probability of destruction based on the gender of its name.
You’d think people would learn to let go of these preconceived notions, in face of imminent danger. Unfortunately for some people, holding on to sexist ideals feels a lot safer. Not that it makes them any less of an idiot.
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