"Apparently sexism isn't just a social problem - if you're in the path of a hurricane, gender bias might actually kill you. Feminine-named hurricanes (vs. masculine-named hurricanes) cause significantly more deaths, apparently because they lead to a lower perceived risk and consequently less preparedness. In other words, a hurricane named "Priscilla" probably wouldn't be taken as seriously as a hurricane named "Bruno," which might spark more fear and prompt more people to flee. The study suggests that changing a severe hurricane's name from Charley to Eloise could nearly triple its death toll."
CNN's conclusion. Female-named hurricanes are deadlier, but people are more afraid of the male name, so they flee. Which decreases the death toll in male-named hurricanes.
I live in hurricane central and can say, with full certainty, that no one gives a fuck what the thing is called. Everyone just says "the storm", because the shit's so fucking common. If it fucks enough shit up, they might remember the name of it later, but before and during, no one fucking cares. I know several people that are leaving for this one, but they leave for all of them. That's how this shit works. Either you're someone who leaves for all of them, or someone that says fuck it and stays for all of them.
