[apacheCamel]

I think there are a lot of gives and takes here. People being "afraid" of each other seems a bit dramatic. I think this may be the first time many men in the workplace had to sit back and evaluate the things they say before they say them. This movement has shed light on some of the utterly repulsive behavior people have been getting away with for years, now people just ask you to think twice before telling a joke. If thinking before saying something to a female coworker is that difficult for so many, then I am not really sure what we can do to fix it.

[MrLeftHand]

> People being "afraid" of each other seems a bit dramatic.

In universities and colleges people are afraid voicing their political opinion, or just disagreeing in general with the mainstream. Not just because they would meet lot of counter arguments, but actual physical violence and even getting expelled from school.

Nobody is defending sexual predators and abusive behaviour. But there is a clear bias towards men when it comes to accusations. You don't have to be a predator to say, or do something in a way where the other person will take it as abuse. You don't have to be a man either, but it would make much easier. Everybody can be in this situation. Just fail to identify a transgender person and use a wrong pronoun and you will find yourself in front of HR so fast that you won't have time to say sorry.

If a joke can get you in trouble so much that you even lose your job just because a woman's feelings were hurt, then there is a problem with the system. Is one person's feeling more important than another's life?

This whole situation is a slippery-slope as there will be always someone being offended by something.

I think the key is tolerance. Understanding that everybody makes mistakes. Nobody is perfect. And when they apologise we should stop the witch hunt. Also we should embrace differences between sexes and not trying blurring the lines.

[apacheCamel]

>You don't have to be a predator to say, or do something in a way where the other person will take it as abuse.

No you don't and this is a problem. Anybody can say something abusive but that doesn't make it right.

>Just fail to identify a transgender person and use a wrong pronoun and you will find yourself in front of HR so fast that you won't have time to say sorry.

Out of all the transgender people I know, they will correct you if you fail to use the correct pronoun OR they will let you know first, that way you don't feel awkward. It is up to you then to follow through with it.

I think there are a vocal few who are super easily offended and too many people are focusing on them. They don't make up the general populace. Just like how not every guy is out to make crude jokes and be offensive. It always seems like the "not every guy" defensive always comes up but it is unfathomable that not everyone is as easily offended as this vocal minority.

[MrLeftHand]

>No you don't and this is a problem. Anybody can say something abusive but that doesn't make it right.

Of course it doesn't make it right, but it doesn't make it a valid reason to drag that person through the dirt. Especially if something was said between the accused and a third person and the accuser was just eavesdropping on the conversation.

>I think there are a vocal few who are super easily offended and too many people are focusing on them. They don't make up the general populace. Just like how not every guy is out to make crude jokes and be offensive. It always seems like the "not every guy" defensive always comes up but it is unfathomable that not everyone is as easily offended as this vocal minority.

I agree, we are talking about minorities on both sides. Not every man is an abusive predator and not every woman is going to be a snowflake, who will cry abuse over everything a man says.

But as my first comment stated, the problem is that our current society caters to them. They are the ones who will go great lengths to ruin peoples lives, even when it turns out the accusations were false. They pressure companies into firing people. They harass, threaten, deplatform and dox people without thinking about the damages they cause. And when you work with a person like this (and you might not know this) you will be the target very fast, even for the slightest mistake.

And don't forget the bias towards genders. We talk about biases towards women for countless hours, but when someone brings up the biases towards men, that person is kicked out of the conversation. A level playing field goes both ways.

[apacheCamel]

People get kicked out of the conversation because men still have power. A good example of this would be this exact argument. A woman feels uncomfortable about a man and she is a "whiny snowflake" while a man feels uncomfortable about a woman and the world needs to change.

[MrLeftHand]

Haha, good job trying to take it out of context. Of course I used a woman as analogy, given the current topic.

Anyone can be a snowflake, but still the main goal is, that people shouldn't be over sensitive when it comes to words or mistakes. It's one thing being targeted and one thing hearing something you don't like and throw a tantrum over it, or destroying another human's life.

> because men still have power.

So you're saying men kick out men for pointing out biases towards men? Yeah, sure.