A culture clash awaited Reysuka. She believed that she was about to share a fun museum picture.
“I’m a paleontologist with a Ph.D. Come talk to Dino Mommy!” The selfie-taking, dinosaur-skeleton-staging, OnlyFans-broadcasting, PhD-holding, made-up paleontologist posted this to her 300,000 followers, waiting with anticipation to see what the internet does best: build a team, nitpick someone else’s life, and fight it out like pros.
Her video garnered over 32 million views, with a flirting caption escalating into a dispute over who is qualified to call themselves scientists and whom to trust.
Soon after, others on X (formerly Twitter) asked her where her dissertation and faculty page were. Some others thought she was using sex appeal to gain credentials. Others thought that because of her “Dino Mommy” persona, it was difficult to take female academics seriously.
Reysuka describes how the response indicated something much older, uglier, but much more familiar than a captioning dispute.
“Definitely the second one,” she told Where Is The Buzz, when asked whether the outrage was about her post or about broader discomfort with women who refuse to separate intelligence from sexual expression. “When I posted it, I had no idea that it was apparently rage bait for a large part of the online population. It really made me realize that women are still perceived as less than human, and that disgusts me.”
For Reysuka, the problem is not dinosaurs but the call for women to remain in their designated lane.
“Being sexual, smart, and having a personality, all of these coexist in all of us,” she said. “I think it’s strange that men can be anything they want to be, but then some men expect women only to be sexy OR smart. It’s equating gender with not having the full capacities and allowances of a human being.”
‘I Do in Fact Have a Ph.D.’ and the Risk of Proving It
The strongest objection was to her credentials. They requested her dissertation, her faculty profile, and proof of credentials.
Reysuka revealed that the absence of her public documentation is intentional and tied to safety reasons.
“I don’t think anyone should lie about their academic credentials,” she said. “I do in fact have a Ph.D. and many publications, but have not made it public on my social media accounts yet because that would require releasing my real name.”
She intends to show evidence later but is afraid of doxxing.
“I do plan to reveal proof of my credentials in the future, but considering the risks associated with being doxxed, I’m not ready yet,” she said.
However, she points out that the internet’s emphasis on formal qualifications overlooks the larger issue.
“All of that being said, I think that as long as scientific creators are inspiring others to learn about the world and get interested in science, there’s no need to have a degree as long as the information is accurate,” she said.
Reysuka regards what she’s doing as science communication. She states that she has created a whole community in dinosaur science, mostly made up of adults. Reysuka also states that what she’s doing sparks curiosity in people.
“Now more than ever, we need people to get interested in science and saving our planet, and dinosaurs are a huge part of that,” she said. “Studies have shown that children interested in dinosaurs are more likely to get into STEM, and gain critical thinking skills and enhanced verbal and vocabulary skills.”
Her aim is not to complete an internet credential check.
“I’ve built a community around dinosaur science for fans that are mostly adults, and every day I see my content inspiring people to learn, connect to others, and have more confidence in who they are, ” she said. “And that makes me happy because that’s my main mission, using dinosaurs to connect and inspire people and make the world a better place together.”
‘I Worked Myself Nearly to the Death’ and Why She Refuses to Perform “Seriously”
Some voices criticize her trademark for supporting stereotypes that women in science face. This is what Reysuka says about it:
“I have a Masters and a Ph.D. (one of which was from an Ivy League school), have published in Nature and other prestigious journals, have traveled around the world to find dinosaurs and work in museums, have completed the most prestigious postdoctoral program in the United States,” she said.
She included training, grants, curating, research, field trips, and exhibitions.
“I have a wealth of experience in curation, research, publication, field expeditions, and exhibition creation,” she said. “I worked myself nearly to the death for my research over the years.”
Reysuka’s tone changed. She reveals that even when she followed the traditional rules of academic respectability, she was still punished.
“Yet despite my overflow of qualifications and undeniable hard work, I was stalked, sexually assaulted, sexually harassed, emotionally and verbally abused, and passed over for jobs for over a decade just because I am a woman in academia,” she said.
She reported that she was harassed even before she used social media, as well as when she attempted not to be seen as “sexual” at work.
“During this time, I never wore makeup and did not wear revealing clothing at work,” she said. “So, you can’t even blame it on that, even though those things shouldn’t matter.”
The lesson was brutal and clear.
“I played by their rules, and it still wasn’t enough, because I’m a woman,” she said. “I realized that the abuse was never going to stop, no matter how serious I was or how much I accomplished, so I might as well start living my life fully.”
She also points out that women are expected to perform flawlessly to get basic respect.
“We as women should not have to act a certain way to be taken seriously; our work should speak for itself,” she said. “It certainly does for men.”
She states that there has been a situation in paleontology where men have long been celebrated as “rock stars,” but abuse has either been overlooked or justified.
“Many of them are known sexual abusers, but most people are afraid to speak out against them for fear of losing their jobs and access to fossils,” she said.
According to her, often, the wrong people are punished.
“Instead of the perpetrator being punished, victims and women like me were blamed for it and told to put up with it or accept that our research wouldn’t get published,” she said. “And giving up your publications means giving up your career in science.”
She started monetizing her explicit content after this experience.
“That’s the main reason I started to fund my own research using OnlyFans, so that I wouldn’t need to put up with abuse to get funding,” she said.
And for women who might think her persona was making it worse for women, she had this message:
“These scientists you are speaking of have the wrong idea,” she said. “We shouldn’t punish other women to be taken more seriously, because that’s never going to happen. We need to stand up to our abusers and the system that allows sexism and sexual abuse to run rampant.”
The Double Standard, the Support, and the “Lighthouse” She Wants to Build
According to their supporters, male influencers easily build followers with charm and good looks without appearing like frauds themselves. Reysuka concurs.
“This showed me that there’s definitely a double standard, no question,” she said.
However, she also emphasized that the internet is not only about bullying.
“For as many bullies as there are out there, there’s also a ton of sensitive, bright, kind, and loving people who treat people who are not like them with respect regardless of sexuality or gender,” she said.
She says that many men are involved in the movement, and she rejects the notion that the politics of gender on the internet has been solely about women’s interests.
“People don’t talk about it much, but men are hurting in our society too,” she said. “There are so many expectations on them to be breadwinners, to hide their emotions, and to conform to a strict image of what society thinks men should be.”
Reysuka wishes her page to be a safe space.
“I want my Dino Mommy pages to be a lighthouse for these people, a beacon of hey, you’re safe here,” she said. “And I’ll stand up for us.”
Her larger ambition is to create an environment that makes people feel less alone and more empowered.
“No matter how much you were bullied and silenced, I have a platform that I’m gonna use to stand up for all of us, build a community and safe space for us, and together we will make the world a better place,” she said.
‘I’m the Sexy Bill Nye’ and the Future of Science on the Internet
Reysuka considers herself part of a larger movement involving educators, entertainment professionals, and adult content creators who use the same online platforms. Reysuka doesn’t apologize. She says it is reality.
“The internet has always valued engagement over traditional credentials,” she said.
For her, legitimacy is about impact, integrity, curiosity, community, and accuracy.
“As long as you are fostering curiosity, lifting up other scientific creators, creating a safe space in your community, and not spreading harmful misinformation that makes you a legitimate scientific creator,” she said.
She argues that science communication has always depended on storytelling and spectacle, from TV icons to blockbuster movies.
“As a scientist, I think that it’s our job to meet people where they’re at,” she said. “We can’t just live in our ivory towers.”
She rattled off the classic gateways: “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” “Planet Earth,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Prehistoric Planet,” framing the internet as the next stage.
“The internet is just the next step of how we can communicate our findings and get people interested in science, because science can be fun,” she said.
Then she delivered the line that sounds like a tagline and a threat to anyone who still wants women to pick one box.
“And I’m the sexy Bill Nye out here proving it,” she said.
