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What do Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Irene, and Tropical Storm Sandy have in common? They were all deadly hurricanes, yes. But they also all had female names. A new study finds that this may not be a coincidence.
Researchers at the University of Illinois found that storms with female names tend to be more deadly. This is not necessarily because they’re stronger, but…brace yourself…because people don’t take them as seriously.
Seriously.
People pay less heed to evacuation notices, flood alerts and safety precautions when a storm has a traditionally female name. This bizarre information comes from over 60 years worth of data.
Ironically, storms only had female names up until they began alternating genders in the early 1970’s, when it was decided that it was sexist to make them all women.
Names of a hurricane are decided years in advance, and are not based on severity.
So basically, if you’re sexist you will die. The more you know.
