Story highlights Researchers analyzed over six decades of death rates from U.S. hurricanes

One critic says earlier hurricanes, which were deadlier, were only given female names

(CNN) Apparently sexism isn't just a social problem -- if you're in the path of a hurricane, gender bias might actually kill you.

A study suggests people prepare differently for hurricanes depending on whether the storm has a male or female name.

"Feminine-named hurricanes (vs. masculine-named hurricanes) cause significantly more deaths, apparently because they lead to a lower perceived risk and consequently less preparedness," a team of researchers wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

In other words, a hurricane named "Priscilla" probably wouldn't be taken as seriously as a hurricane named "Bruno," which might spark more fear and prompt more people to flee.

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Researchers backed up their claims with death rates from U.S. hurricanes from 1950 to 2012. (They also conducted experiments on how people would react to hypothetical male and female hurricanes -- more on that later.)

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