We Men Knew It All Along!

Yes, we did! Researchers at the University of Illinois and Arizona State University say death tolls with hurricanes that have been given female names have been greater than those that have been given male names. The researchers looked at death tolls from hurricanes going back to 1950 through 2012 and discovered that in the case of the 47 most severe storms, far more people on average died from hurricanes named after women (45) than from those with male names (23). The difference in fatalities also widens when strongly masculine names are compared to those regarded as strongly female. So what accounts for this disparity? The simple answer is that since people aren't as intimidated by female-named hurricanes, they don't take the same precautions. As co-author Sharon Shavitt of the University of Illinois explains, the findings suggest "implicit sexism." In other words, we don't even realize we're less fearful of a Mary than a Mark. While the study is pretty astounding, there's been no serious talk yet of changing the hurricane-naming system. You know, I had about a half-dozen smart remarks about this, but every one of them would get me in trouble! ~John