<i>If you’ve not been a minority in a group before (especially in a career-type setting), then it is hard to even imagine what that’s like.</i><p>First of all, lets call this argument out for what it is - it's basically an appeal to authority. It's an implicit claim that if you aren't a member of a specific authoritative group, you are unable to reason about a topic. And it's a logical fallacy.<p>Second of all, it isn't even true. I've been a minority in a career-type setting ever since leaving academia and I've never had the reactions that the author's whiny male friend did. People mock me due to my unusual physical characteristics (e.g., I get sunburned), I mock them for being < 5' tall, then we get lunch.<p>It's no big deal because I choose to focus on the code, relax and roll with it.<p>But hey, I'm sure my experience will be dismissed because I'm not the <i>right</i> type of minority in a career setting.
Fair enough, although I'd like to speak up and say that a world in which nobody is allowed to say anything that could hurt anybody's feelings wouldn't be a very interesting place to live in (for example sometimes the truth hurts). I don't want to defend sexist jokes or whatever is the problem, I just don't like the emotion argument, because it is too easy to manipulate people using it.
The problem with the pedophile argument is that being called a bitch or treated like a secretary cannot result in you ending in jail.<p>After this can we please not post anymore racist/sexist/*ist stuff? I don't know about you, but I come here for the news about tech and the super insightfull comments and these stories seem a waste of brain power.
I've been mocked plenty for a bunch of reasons and I'm sure everyone has too. When I was a kid I ran up to my mom and said "Hey mom, that kid was mean to me." and she would tell me "Just ignore him." and make me go play again.
Now I'm a grown up and I don't need to go to my mom everytime someone makes fun of me or looks at me wierd. And I sure don't go whinning to the internet.
The lego analogy is good, the Punch Buggy is not.<p>Here's the thing: words (as opposed to physical violence) are very curious insofar as they can only hurt you as much as you let them.<p>I'd suggest that it'd be better to try and cultivate thick skins, and to publicly shame or ignore people who are acting like idiots until they knock it off.<p>Racism, sexism, genderism (is that even the right word?), and agism are all stupid biases, and by treating them like a valid threat instead of a silly self-limiting arbitrary preference we are doing well by no one.