100 Years of Identity Crisis

Chapter 2: Before Identity Crisis Was Given a Name

On 4 August 2020, The New York Times reported on the case of BethAnn McLaughlin, who in a statement acknowledged that through her Twitter account, ‘MeTooSTEM’, she had invented the false persona of a female Native American anthropologist at Arizona State University. @Sciencing_Bi was portrayed as a Hopi anthropologist, who was allegedly the victim of sexual harassment by a Harvard professor. The announcement of the death of this non-existent person due to COVID-19 complications prompted widespread expressions of grief, including a memorial service organised on Zoom.⁹⁵ Numerous individuals who identified with the victim identity of the fictitious @Sciencing_Bi were no doubt pained by this ...