this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2026
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what's... what's going on here?
New type of cat just dropped
Did it land on its feet?
Most under-rated question. Purrfect.
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?
Some people online have started to either seriously or jokingly equate headlines saying "Scientists discovered" with "white guys found out something the natives have known about for years"
This is a specific type of callout post with justifiable ire about that, but to the tone of "for fucks sake not all scientists are white guys. Behold; the scientist who discovered the new cat."
Female Bolivian scientist to be precise
I feel like this isn't about a cat
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.
where?
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?
So why is tumblr's issue our problem?
If you didn’t assume she was a white guy, then this isn’t targeting you. You can put your pitchfork down.
Has anyone in this community, or on Lemmy or in the fediverse in general, been doing that? Else what's the relevance to us?
That's the problem with screenshots of other social media platforms; we don't have any of the buildup or history leading up to this. I'm completely out of the loop on this entire thing. It's like seeing a 9 layer meme that builds on all the other memes posted this week without context
Imagine seeing a post making fun of lämps and you're just like… what about lamps? They're bright?
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
fine. The point stands though, OP should have provided context for this actually being an issue.
It's really common for people to assume scientists are white men.
Here's another study on it:
This isn't a made up phenomena just for social media. It really happens.
Oh. Well, if that's the whole story, then this is a pretty weak science meme
Eh there’s value in calling out sexist assumptions.
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.
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.
Damn, you’re lucky
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.
https://lemmy.ca/post/71094265
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/tilcayo-tiger-cat-new-species-9.7349140
yes but what's all the "white guy" stuff?
It's in response to an assumption that's described here, but not included here.
There’s a running assumption that the scientist that discovered this new cat species is a white guy. It’s not.
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
Well explained.
citation needed
If you read the comment section, someone already did:
https://sh.itjust.works/post/67172616/27558882
this is no different than OP, another accusation.
What did I do?