The deadly sexism of hurricane naming

There was nothing "weak, warm, and passive" about a hurricane named Sandy

Hurricane Sandy
(Image credit: (Mark Wilson/Getty Images))

Giving hurricanes human names makes it easier for the public to keep track of storms, remember safety information, and make historical references. But the names we use, (which are chosen by the World Meteorological Organization), can also cloud our judgment — sometimes to lethal effect.

When researchers from the University of Illinois and Arizona State University looked at the death tolls for all hurricanes that made landfall in the U.S. from 1950 to 2012, they found that storms with feminine names were more deadly than storms with masculine names.

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