source up on your She-E-Os but also everyone tbqh
Between the Theranos shitshow and stories like last year’s Jezebel piece on Thinx founder Miki Agrawal, the narrative of the revolutionary “She-E-O” who turns out to be a total fraud and/or nightmare tyrant is fraught: No one in favor of general progress wants to be caught dead picking apart a woman in leadership in a way that seems remotely sexist, but also yeah, we have to hold all people in power accountable.
And one of the best ways to do that, as this Science Magazine reporter realized last week, is to remember to talk to everyone on the totem pole. In a Twitter thread, Kai Kupferschmidt details how he originally profiled the world’s top empathy researcher, Tania Singer, back in 2013, almost exclusively using other top scientists and people in power as sources.
It wasn’t until recently that the people who worked under Singer’s lab came forward to share harrowingly ironic tales of her emotionally abusive behavior. The result: A new companion piece telling more of the bigger (and more ironic) story around Singer’s work — and a reminder to keep your roster of sources as varied as possible. Not because anyone’s itching for a good power lady takedown, but because the big picture is what we’re doin all this for.
Like Deez Links? Forward to everyone else who got taken down by a vicious summer cold this week.