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

Hey some of us can't tell races easily, she just looks like any white woman

New type of cat just dropped

I feel like this isn't about a cat

Did it land on its feet?

https://lemmy.ca/post/71094265

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/tilcayo-tiger-cat-new-species-9.7349140

That's because her being Bolivian doesn't mean anything about her race. She could very well just be a white woman.

Most under-rated question. Purrfect.

"Extreamly weird how many people I've seen assume she is a white guy"

I thought she was a cat. That's what we were talking about. White? She is more of a yellow orange with tan to brown spots.

/s

People were assuming that the biologist that discovered the new cat species was a white guy. She's a Bolivian biologist who is decidedly not a white guy.

Just your average casual sexism weaving it's way through social media as usual.

What if she's not a woman? or white? or real? Maybe she's trans. Not transgender... transdimensional.

Maybe they exist in a space that occupies your mind but not on this physical plane? What if all we see of them is but a piece of the knowable whole and our perceptions give it the shape of what we think it should be? Like an iceberg breaching through dimensional surface, forced into focus by our rules of reality.

How else could they discover that which was unknown?

She's Bolivian. That doesn't say anything about the color of her skin.

She doesn't look white to me. She looks hispanic to me.

A person being not black doesn't make them white.

I saw the article before but didn't read the details, if I had seen the name ending with an -a I would have thought a woman. But that's also probably because I knew a guy named Paolo.

There is absolutely sexism as well as racism still lurking around in the average person's assumptions. Seems a connected world hasn't (yet) fixed that. Might take more time.

Pspspspspspspspspspspspsps

yes but what's all the "white guy" stuff?

People were assuming that the biologist that discovered the new cat species was a white guy.

where?

There’s a running assumption that the scientist that discovered this new cat species is a white guy. It’s not.

I’m answering what the OG post is talking about. I can dig up examples just as well as you can, but I’m not at my desk at the moment.

The OP says “this site” and it looks like maybe Tumblr?

but what is the source of the "white guy" controversy? where are people reading about this new cat and commenting on the race and gender of the discoverer?

Female Bolivian scientist to be precise

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

Oh. Well, if that's the whole story, then this is a pretty weak science meme

So why is tumblr's issue our problem?

Eh there’s value in calling out sexist assumptions.

If you didn’t assume she was a white guy, then this isn’t targeting you. You can put your pitchfork down.

I guess so, it just would be nice to see two people verbally sparring, instead of a one-person narrative about a supposed firestorm

It’s an old trope that people assume any scientist is a white man.

You got your HRT, and then you got your SMRT (Spice Melange Replacement Therapy)

shrug first I've heard it

https://qz.com/523023/scientists-and-mathematicians-arent-all-white-men-but-you-wouldnt-know-that-from-the-movies

It’s a whole thing! Now that you know, I bet it’s like learning a new word - you’ll start noticing it in more places.

on tumblr especially, there is a belief that science is essentially only a thing white european/american men do and they impose their vision of the world onto everyone, hence "discovering" a new cat species (which was actually known to locals since forever)

it’s an understandable belief, given the very imperialist and colonialist history of science and the legacy that this leaves behind. but it also completely erases the many contributions to science from other people, like here, where the tilcayo was first formally described by a Bolivian woman, and named after the name local Indigenous people give to the cat

Ooh, Kitteh!!

Jane Goodall? Isn’t she well known.

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".

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

There's still disagreement on whether Hispanic means white or not.

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

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.

Blame the news for conflating "new to science" as being "new to everyone"

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

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.

It happens to kids who are given both surnames by their parents.

There’s a running assumption

citation needed

If you read the comment section, someone already did:

https://sh.itjust.works/post/67172616/27558882

I can dig up examples just as well as you can, but I’m not at my desk at the moment.

you should have done that before posting this screenshot out of context. If you're not willing to verify something is true, then don't repost it on social media.

I didn't post the screenshot

I'm not the OP

this is no different than OP, another accusation.

What did I do?

fine. The point stands though, OP should have provided context for this actually being an issue.