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Comment by dumpsterdiver | Hacker News Reader

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I think the issue is not with genderization but the choice of using it instead her name or affiliation (University of Nottingham) or country of residence (United Kingdom). Suggesting that "She Turns Fluids Into ‘Black Holes’ and ‘Inflating Universes’” is more “news worthy” than “Dr. Weinfurtner Turns Fluids Into ‘Black Holes’ and ‘Inflating Universes’” which imho is at least a little bit patronizing.

The phrase "[s]he turns fluids into black holes" could have come directly from some new-age bible. The only thing that made me think "maybe they're talking about a person" was seeing it featured on HN, so that was purely by context. For me, your suggested change isn't patronizing -- rather, it's an essential addition that upgrades the headline from content-free gibberish to an interest-piquing description.

It might also be one of the reasons why the assumption is veering towards "man" in headlines such as "professor turns fluids into black holes." When media go out of their way to stress that it concerns a woman, the default assumption for ungendered terms will remain male.

But if it said "he turns fluids into Black Holes and inflating universes" we wouldn't even be having this discussion...

Shall we avoid gender altogether these days because it's too tricky not to go down moral rabbit holes?

I thought "She" seemed odd too. I suspected it might be a sort of acronym or code-word, and when I started reading the article, that's what I was looking for an explanation of.

You are concern trolling [0] and "just asking questions" [1]; why is the "genderization of this alleged achievement" the thing you seem to focus on, instead of the actual content?

[0] https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Concern_troll

[1] https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Just_asking_questions

Trolling? Pardon me, but I am absolutely not. There may have been some misunderstanding, but I assure you that there was no intentional trolling happening on my part.

I don't think a profile of a single woman doing this study is any kind of proof that only women do this kind of study. Your premise and your reasoning are not aligned with reality.

It's clear to me now that the message I intended to send and the message that was received were very different. My original comment was made half in jest, along the lines of "I always knew my wife was mad, but now I have proof." The other half of my comment that was not meant to be humorous was simply acknowledging that similar jokes would likely not be told if circumstances were different.

Ah, thanks for those links. Great stuff. I guffawed.

interesting, a wiki for terminally online shock troops

What a terrifying website.

What a terrifying era.

What genderization, do you mean using 'She' rather than 'He' in the title?

It reads like an pop sci article on David Blair and his work on gravity save for the fact it's about Silke Weinfurtner and her work on black holes.

If you're so easily "concerned" I suggest you don't read about (say) Steph Wehner and her work on quantum cryptography or rooting BSD kernels.

Jeez. I meant that the word "she" is in the title. It seemed unnecessary, that's all. Holy smokes.

The word "He" frequently appears in article titles about male physicists.

Do you comment about that also?

eg:

Carlo Rovelli’s rebellious past and how it made him a better scientist

    For the last 30 years, Carlo Rovelli has been the source of some of the most intriguing ideas in fundamental physics, ranging across quantum physics and Einstein’s general relativity.  This exclusive short film, "The Meaning of Meaning", gives us some insights into his rebellious past, and how that makes for good science.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2279240-carlo-rovellis-...

I think it may seem a bit jarring to you only because it's not common, because there aren't so many women physicists and these sort of personal interest pieces aren't done for them so often. It's not necessarily some DEI flex by the author. Take a look at all the submissions to HN that begin with "He" [0] and meditate on how you feel about them.

I know I had the same reaction around that "The woman behind the first black hole image" story a couple years ago, but after watching news articles since then with a careful eye towards phrasing like "The man behind X" I realized it's just a normal phrasing that seemed jarring in the black hole case only because I wasn't used to hearing about the women behind something.

[0] https://hn.algolia.com/?q=he

The article is literally about a woman. Journalism has become very much about character pieces, for better or worse. They are compelling to the average reader in ways that rote technicum is not. And Quanta is certainly aimed at the average reader.

I found using "She" instead of her name a bit weird.

It's one of many popular science title templates; the mysterious subject.

His discovery changed a generation

This team achieved the impossible

Together they made a tasty soup

It's something I'd associate with tacky clickbait though

I must be missing something, but how is this achievement genderized, other than using the word 'she' here and there?

Apparently, yes.

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