Woman Whose Feminist Stem Group Had a Racist Meltdown Now Accused of Posing as an ASU Professor Who Died of Covid
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Dr. BethAnn McLaughlin is a former assistant professor of neurology, a researcher, and one of the founders of MeTooSTEM, a group working to highlight gender discrimination in the field of science. In February 2020, McLaughlin was accused of “sidelining” people of color as well as “[bullying] volunteers, activists, and fellow leaders,” according to a report in Science Magazine. But on Monday morning McLaughlin was also accused of running a years-long Twitter identity scam, wherein she allegedly pretended to be a bisexual, Native American anthropology professor at Arizona State University.
According to the International Business Times, McLaughlin, who is white, “has been accused by academics and Twitter users for masquerading as a non-existent bi-sexual Native American professor” using the handle @Sciencing_Bi. On Saturday, McLaughlin tweeted from her account, @McLNeuro, that her dear friend @Sciencing_Bi had died due to issues related to having contracted covid-19. And in tweets that are no longer available because both accounts have been suspended, McLaughlin wrote about her friendship with the deceased professor, per IBT.
According to screenshots of McLaughlin’s tweets, @Sciencing_Bi “made million first nations indigenous contacts for metoostem [sic]” and was in the process of sending “Hopi bandanas” to McLaughlin’s students from her hospital bed as she battled covid-19.