"Shark Week" Too White, Professor Says

According to The College Fix, Allegheny College Biology Professor Lisa Whitenack recently told The Washington Post that growing up “she rarely saw any women she could look up to” on Discovery’s “Shark Week” show, and that made her question whether she herself could go on to study sharks. (Somehow, she managed to do just that.)

Whitenack, and several other researchers, published their findings on the preponderance of white males appearing on Shark Week in “A content analysis of 32 years of Shark Week documentaries.” David Shiffman of Arizona State University, Whitenack’s co-author, believes there could be something nefarious at work here. He stated, “When there are hundreds of people of color interested who work in this field, [and] when my field is more than half women, maybe it’s not an accident anymore that they’re only featuring White men.” He added that there were a curiously high number of white guys named “Mike” on the show. Egads, too many Mikes! Sorry professors, but the last thing the show needs is an influx of “Karens.”

 

The study references a 2020 article which also bemoaned the dearth of women and minorities on shark-related programming, and cites the University of Miami’s Catharine Macdonald as saying, “the science is clear that representation matters in attracting and retaining members of historically excluded groups in STEM.” Macdonald added that many females and minorities watch and enjoy shows like “Shark Week,” but that seeing too many white guys might send them the message that “shark science might not be a very welcoming place.” Whenever an “expert” tells you “the science is clear” or “the science is settled,” you know they have an agenda.

 

Both the Discovery Channel and the famously conservative National Geographic are on record as saying, “it is impossible to include more diverse representations of shark scientists because available shark scientists are predominantly white men.”

A group called “Minorities in Shark Science” contests that claim. (“Minorities in Shark Science?”)

It is ironic that a woman named “Whitenack” is complaining about the lack of diversity in a show about sharks. What does she have to say about the fact the show often features “Great White” sharks? “Great” in front of “White?!” Horrifying!

I take serious issue with progressives claiming that if people don’t see someone with their exact same “intersectionality” doing something they will automatically think they can’t do it or aren’t welcome to try.

Alexander Graham Bell rarely saw anyone talking on the phone, so what would have made him think he could do it?

There hadn’t been a female British Prime Minister in the more than 250 years that the office had been in existence, so why did Margaret Thatcher (successfully) take a crack at it?