Gayle
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guesswho2-0.bsky.social
Gayle
@guesswho2-0.bsky.social
480 followers 620 following 63 posts
NOT GOING BACK!
Love dogs, travel, humor, nature, good movies & books
Alabama/Florida. Going to evacuate from Florida ASAP
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guesswho2-0.bsky.social
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May 25, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Reposted by Gayle
joolia.bsky.social
welp I sent an email
Hi Tripp, I'm a reporter with the Guardian US, based in New York. I hope this finds you well. I'm reaching out about your most recent article and its inclusion of the claim, "Young Chinese women have small fingers." What is the source of this information? The full sentence attributes the claim that such small fingers make them "nimble" and therefore "valuable" to iPhone manufacturing to unnamed "supply chain experts", but it's unclear whether those same experts are the source of the claim that young Chinese women have small fingers in the first place. Are they? How do they know? Is there a study you can cite? And are we talking length? Circumference? Is it question of muscle strength? Or bone density? What is the normative range for finger size, to what extent do young Chinese women fall outside of it, and how do you - or your sources - know this? Incidentally, how are you defining "Chinese" in this sentence? As I'm sure you and your supply chain experts know, China is a large country with dozens of ethnic minorities. It is hard to imagine that hand size is a trait linked to national identity, but the lack of specificity leaves the question open. Did hand size among Han Chinese living in Taiwan vs the PRC diverge after the civil war? Could this be a function of political economy rather than a genetic trait? So many questions. Relatedly, how are you defining "young"? Do Chinese women's fingers grow as they age? Or is size not actually the meaningful characteristic? It's hard to tell from the information you provided! I ask all these questions because unless you have answers to them, I am afraid that you may have portrayed racist pseudoscience as if it were fact in an article for the New York Times. If that wasn't your intent, I hope you will reflect upon the long history of certain forces using race science claims to attribute suitability for certain types of labor to certain types of people, and amend your article. Best, Julia Wong
May 24, 2025 at 3:35 PM