I do mind being harassed for being a man rather than a woman – that's not something I chose. I was born that way. I can't change that nor can I argue rationally for why I decided to be that way.
What about religion. It is an interesting intersection of 'is a choice' and 'protected demographic'. And why should it be any more acceptable to harass someone for what they choose? Is it more acceptable to discriminate against a Hispanic individual for choosing to identify with their heritage (a choice) than to discriminate against them for being Hispanic (not a choice)? Both seem wrong to me.
>that's not something I chose. I was born that way.
What about those who are of a different gender/sex than they were born? What about people who choose to change their gender?
Even your response itself can be an issue, as there is an implication that others are born a given gender and cannot change it.
If you actually speak to these people, they will inform you they didn't "change" their gender. What you are referring to is the practise of fixing the body to conform to the expectations of the gender they were born with.
I haven't talked to any of them directly, so I don't know who is "somebody, a lot of people, an awful lot"? How many is "an awful lot", what do you reckon? 1-10, 10-100, 100-1000, 1000-10000? Millions? Maybe if I had more firsthand information, it would change my mind.
This came up when Sarah Sharp quit developing on the Linux Kernel due to 'abuse' from Torvalds [0]. A prevailing notion was that this language was necessary for everyone working in the kernel space.
I've also seen commenters on HN get torn to pieces because their javascript benchmarks ~5-7% slower than the "optimal" solution. Harassment is often based on opinion.
To push an agenda. Take as an example people that claim that video games are responsible, either partially or wholly, for an increase in violence. There is no definitive link between violent video games and violence, especially as the violent crime rate in the US has been falling for decades now. The people leading this crusade generally do not like games and feel that their disapproval and dislike means that other people shouldn't get to experience them.
Maybe more posts should start with "As a man in tech" or something. In gender-skewed areas, removing gender from posts (along with the assumption of what gender wrote it) would maybe be preferable. But, IDK.