I don't know a lot of people who assume the name Paola is male. This feels like a strawman argument.
this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2026
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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".
For context, there is a trend of correcting people saying scientists to "white man", because articles frame discoveries as "scientists discover x" when "x" had been widely known by the local population since that population got there.
However, this argument is fucking stupid because science has, famously, not categorized and described everything that exists, even if non scientists already know about it.
And most importantly, major publications are specifically not framing this as a discovery, but as a documentation.
Yes, they discovered that it was a new species. If I had a rock on my desk for 20 years then one day ran a test that discovered it was a new element, I could say I discovered a new element even though I knew the rock existed.
That's kind of self-referential gaslighting. How can you tell if society is progressing in awareness (which it is) if every time you see "scientist" you think "white man" and justify it as assuming they were racist enough to put that? (Not you, the person we are talking about.)
That idea that "scientists discover x" being a substitute is correct, but is well-known today because it is a historical trend that was described by modern academics. Not a rampant current issue (despite single examples one might be able to find).
All I'm saying is that progress starts with the institution and the reader and should meet somewhere in the middle. The reader assuming this is what articles mean downright perpetuates the problem.
I simply do not accept people waste calories trying to gender titles that are irrelevant to the article or when the scientist's name is easily looked up. This reads as strawman ragebait and it's exhausting.
yeah I don't think I've heard of anyone confusing who the scientist is. I also don't get why anyone would think an event happening in Bolivia would include white people
It's about the story: scientists discovered a new cat species and named it Tilcayo, after the name the locals call it.
Reactions were:
- So it hasn't been discovered, just put on an official list
- Do you mean discovered for white guys?
- Finally someone asked the locals!
Second type of reaction is probably what caused OPs post
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I did not, I actually did not think about the scientist at all. I was distracted by the tiny cat. CAT!
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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
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At no point did I think of the scientists gender. I don’t think I ever have considered the gender of a scientist.
Hell another cat could’ve discovered this cat and I’d never know until someone mentioned it.
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. 
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Holy fucking strawman
And here I was imagining a diverse group of scientists, because science is rarely done by just one person anyway.
Not only did I not assume that but this is also the first time I've stooped so low as to waste time discussing whether or not we think a scientist is a white guy based on their name.
P.S. Has anybody ever in their life met a white guy named Paola?
The name is Paola not Paolo so that should have been a hint right there.
Have people been assuming they're a white guy?
I can't even really think of a context when discussing the cat when the scientists gender and especially race would come up?
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Thank you to those who tried to translate for the contextually bereft.
I just thought it was cool to see a picure of the person who identified our new Babu.
Pspspspspspspspspspspspsps
"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
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