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Comment by ElComradio | Hacker News Reader

Where is it writ that a person's right to not endure offensive speech trumps another person's right to express themselves? Of course I would opine that a person being needlessly offensive is a jerk but where would I get off insisting she has to change her behavior to suit my tastes?

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I think it's important to look at this as part of a more widespread issue than a few individuals expressing themselves inappropriately. When women are so ridiculously under-represented in the tech industry and are facing both explicit and structural discrimination, it's important to speak out against this behavior.

Put another way: women's "jerkiness" does not make it harder for men in the tech industry, but men's "jerkiness" does make it harder for women in the tech industry.

I appreciate your views and believe they are sincere but when considering "the big picture", I don't think anyone can actually prove anything except there are fewer women in tech. In the big picture how can you show women as a group have it harder? I am a man. It is true I have not been asked to fondle someone under a table to close a deal. It is also true I have never been favored by a boss because he found me attractive. I am not claiming it's easier to be a woman, just that it cannot really be shown which group has it easier. Individual experience can get us closer to certainties but not all the way even then.

Because that would be a polite thing to do?

This is mostly not about rights. It’s also about proper and polite behaviour.

How polite one finds it depends entirely on how much one sympathizes with the request.

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