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People Less Prepared For Hurricanes With Feminine Names, Study Shows

People Less Prepared For Hurricanes With Feminine Names, Study Shows

By Joan Cary, Chicago Tribune

Bertha, Dolly, Fay and Hanna could be on the way now that the Atlantic hurricane season started Sunday. And recent research suggests it’s time to give the Atlantic storms with feminine names a bit more respect.

According to a study released Monday by University of Illinois researchers, hurricanes with women’s names are likely to cause significantly more deaths than those with masculine names — not because the feminine-named storms are stronger, but because they are perceived as less threatening and so people are less prepared.

People in the path of severe storms with a feminine name may take fewer protective measures, leaving them more vulnerable to harm, according to the article published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.” It was written by Kiju Jung, a doctoral student in marketing at the university, and marketing professor Sharon Shavitt.

Atlantic hurricane names alternate between male and female, starting with Arthur this year, followed by Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly and 17 others. The list is recycled every six years with the exception of 78 names from severe storms such as Katrina and Camille that have been retired, according Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The researchers examined human fatality numbers for 92 storms that made landfall in the U.S. between 1950 and 2012, excluding Katrina from 2005 and Audrey from 1957 because together, Shavitt said, they account for 50 percent of all deaths from hurricanes in the U.S. since 1950.

They found that the more feminine the storm’s name in highly damaging storms, the more people it killed.

Shavitt said their numerous experiments included university students as well as volunteers age 18 to 81 who took part in an online nationwide study. They reported that when people imagined being in a male-named storm, they predicted it would be more severe than it was for a female-named storm.

“We don’t think people are aware that the name of the storm may affect how seriously they respond to storm warnings,” Shavitt said. “But the name assigned actually means nothing.”

At the Hurricane Center, Feltgen said “Whether the name is Sam or Samantha, the deadly impacts of the hurricane — wind, storm surge and inland flooding — must be taken seriously by everyone in the path of the storm in order to protect lives. This includes heeding evacuation orders.”

When asked about the report, Tom Skilling, chief meteorologist at WGN-TV in Chicago, said he found the results interesting.

“If that’s the case, then people better get over it. They are putting themselves and their families at risk if that’s the basis by which they are deciding on whether or not to flee a storm and to take the warning seriously.

“It only takes one storm hitting the wrong area to create havoc and mayhem, no matter what the name is.”

 NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

Political Frustration Explodes As NYPD Pepper Sprays Protesters At ‘Occupy Wall Street’ March

An estimated 2,000 marchers in New York continued their attempt to launch a populist “Occupy Wall Street” movement this past weekend, and after a week of protests they finally got the attention of the national press. A filmed outburst of police violence — a video of what looked like a cop spraying mace at four women standing behind a cordon has spread like wildfire across the Internet — might not be the most direct way of targeting financial corruption, but the events on Saturday captured a growing sense of populist powerlessness that has found little space for expression beyond the conservative Tea Party movement.

The protests — which literally have been held on Wall Street — began on Sept. 17, following a call by Adbusters in July. According to the movement’s website, it is a “leaderless resistance movement.”

Hundreds of people have been “occupying” Wall Street for more than a week, borrowing nonviolent tactics — like camping out — previously seen at small protest throughout in Europe and the Middle East. They hope their continuous presence will draw attention to corruption and concentration in the financial sector, and kick off a wave of mass mobilization similar to this spring’s political protests in Cairo or this summer’s giant peaceful revolt in Tel Aviv, which targeted skyrocketing prices and a tycoon-controlled Israeli economy.

Patrick Bruner, a protester and member of the Public Relations Working Group, estimated that 96 people were arrested on Saturday alone, and that police used mace on at least six people. Bruner has been protesting at Liberty Square, or Zuccotti Park, but has not been able to sleep there for fear of being arrested. The NYPD has denied claims that people were arrested for just observing the protests.

Bruner said that Saturday’s events reinvigorated the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters:. “They attempted to shut us down in one fell swoop, but they can’t,” he said, noting that hundreds of protestors had flocked to Wall Street on Monday to continue the demonstrations while the police cut down on their presence.

“I think they’ve realized what a huge tactical error they made Saturday,” Bruner said.