(An aside, as pointed out by a few friends - that’s almost certainly not Yosemite, and looks more like a view in Grand Tetons, which is just a weird and confusing bonus lie to throw in there??)
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further evidence supporting a loose “BethAnn is sciencing_bi” hypothesis:https://twitter.com/evodevodna/status/1290017246253707266?s=21 …
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damning addition to the “BA is SB” ev pile (again, from a friend) - the SB account (allegedly a prof w expertise in geology? anthropology? it’s unclear but def not a medical school dept) responding in lieu of BA on a question about med school prof pay structure at Vanderbiltpic.twitter.com/adbHmJlbIY
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Both the BA and SB tweet here were sent from twitter for Android, and were tweeted four minutes apart. That’s fairly convincing to me, personally. https://twitter.com/isabelott/status/1290101201397329921?s=21 …https://twitter.com/IsabelOtt/status/1290101201397329921 …
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Alright, it's been a wild 14 hours; going to provide a brief update on some of the more salient details and then do some work. For starters: as of around 2am today, BethAnn's named account and the sciencing_bi one are both suspended.
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The rapidity of this dual suspension has led some to suspect that twitter cross-checked IP addresses used to access both accounts. Can't say anything for sure, but it'd make sense to me. Both accounts used the same 3 platforms (Twitter for Android/iPad/Web App) to tweet.
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This is a worthwhile and concerning background thread from someone who went to the zoom ~memorial service~ that BethAnn had for "SB" this weekend. Should be noted that all accounts of this call indicate it was weird, forced, and trying to sell a story.https://twitter.com/BatesPhysio/status/1290301844112072705 …
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It really seems like BA constructed a fake person based off some loose ideas of what the marginalized folks in her field have dealt with. Her race faking was already unacceptable, but it's a noteworthy escalation that she claimed some of "SB"'s family was undocumented.
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This alt persona, by all inferable context clues, was a bi white woman up until this spring, after BA was called out for racist abuses of power (again), and every time "SB"'s story was trotted out after that, she seems to have gotten ~more marginalized~.
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And this wasn't a white woman yelling into the void - this was a white woman assuming a false identity to gain and leverage the trust of marginalized trainees and professors who'd experienced harassment + assault in STEM. It's fucking unforgivable.
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And I will reiterate: this was not the first time she committed racist abuse. There are some nested accounts here of prior abuses. I have been yelling about this for a while, which is why BA's had me blocked.https://twitter.com/TishaBohr/status/1230185578127413248 …
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There are concerns that at least one ongoing Title IX case that BA inserted herself into as "SB" could be seriously damaged by these revelations. This is additional, unforgivable harm.
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Also, to clarify: no one ever spoke to "SB" outside of twitter DMs. There is no evidence that this account was operated by anyone but BethAnn. There is still no evidence that an ASU lecturer died last week.
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None of the sketchy pop-up accounts naming profs it might be have correctly matched the first name BA used in passing when referring to the "SB" account across multiple convos with multiple people. (I won't share the name here to maintain that credibility check.)
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There are dozens of other red flags, most notably a demonstrated pattern of conversationally chatting with herself between MCLNeuro and the JNeuroscience account she ran, and the fact that all "SB"'s racial self-descriptions belied a very white understanding of racial issues.
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ASU is evidently comfortable calling the account a hoax outright now. It makes sense that they investigated and are addressing this, since they were being accused of killing one of their professors:https://twitter.com/AChillGhost/status/1290338637268299776 …
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It's exhausting to see that BethAnn has been allowed to continue to run the
@metoostem organization by its board of directors despite an abundantly demonstrated pattern of harm. Perhaps this will be the abuse so egregious that she's finally removed? I wouldn't bet on it, though.Show this thread -
It should be noted that part of why BethAnn's remained in power in the org is that 1/3 of the MeTooSTEM Board of Directors is...her brother.https://twitter.com/angie_rasmussen/status/1235280607401279488 …
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I don't think anyone within the established survivor community on twitter would ever trust MTS, but more recently traumatized folks have still been engaging with them, looking for support. It doesn't help that many senior PIs are only now breaking with BethAnn publicly.
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By all accounts, BethAnn has been actively abusive to volunteers and leadership since MeTooSTEM's inception. We've been over this so many times. And yet the absurdity of this situation seems to have compelled people where heartbreaking stories of abuse failed to.
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I never worked with MTS, but I was part of a few of the big callouts of BA's abuse, so I've seen how it plays out. Traumatized folks always got accused by (usually white) profs of being a "twitter mob," of "stirring up drama," of "bullying." (It's still happening now, somehow!)
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This is not "drama." This is not "bullying." This is not "cancel culture." We are working to ensure that advocacy + support spaces are not actively retraumatizing for survivors of sexual harassment and assault in STEM. That's a foundational imperative for this work.
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Twitter commented briefly on the suspension: https://twitter.com/rachelleingang/status/1290362605769433089?s=21 …https://twitter.com/rachelleingang/status/1290362605769433089 …
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To add a mea culpa: if I had genuinely believed at the outset of assembling this body of evidence that BethAnn, a known abuser, was behind the sciencing_bi account, I would never have opened the thread so flippantly. I apologize for any harm this casual language compounded.
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Intriguing thread derived from a great article by
@EdCara4, who spoke to BethAnn over the phone last night. This is not particularly...exonerating, shall we say.https://twitter.com/EdCara4/status/1290395130105671691 …Show this thread -
This Buzzfeed article is horrifying. Appropriating other people's trauma to fabricate the credibility of the sciencing_bi alias is beyond manipulative; BethAnn's actions here could undermine an important ongoing investigation into predatory professors. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/bethann-mclaughlin-twitter-suspension-fake-covid-death …pic.twitter.com/kgueElCK4c
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There’s a specific, sickening insidiousness in coopting Indigenous identity as part of a con so elaborate that it might undermine a well-founded Title IX case & allow Gary Urton, a strongly alleged creep, to resume his normal research with Indigenous Andean communities.
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further undermining Hopi identity claims: "Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert, the head of the University of Arizona's Department of American Indian Studies, is an enrolled member of the Hopi tribe. 1/2https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2020/08/03/twitter-hoax-falsely-asu-professor-died-coronavirus-bethann-mclaughlin/5576728002/?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&cid=twitter_azcentral …
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"'There are very few Hopi faculty in the academy. We tend to know each other,' he said via email. 'I have not heard of any Hopi faculty at ASU dying from COVID-19. From what I can tell, the claims that are attributed to @/Sciencing_Bi are a hoax, and a sick one at that.'" 2/2
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Well, looks like she’s admitted to it to the NYT, attention-seeking to the bitter end.https://twitter.com/Jonesieman/status/1290711223344992256 …
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Really awful that that news and the news of Dr. Sims’s death broke the same day. Real BIWOC are dying of COVID-19 right now, and instead of amplifying their tragic stories, BethAnn invented her own to build her brand.https://twitter.com/FacesOfCOVID/status/1290716633380589569 …
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