[Traster]

> I can't help but wonder why technical debates have shifted into personal ones,

This pretty much hits the nail on the head. Why do engineers think they can talk about sexual assault in the same way they mull over the pros and cons of Kubernetes. Which is why, when Richard Stallman is mulling over whether sexual assault is a real thing, or whether you can really have assault without violence, it's a nasty place to be. Because the person talking about the issue very clearly isn't read up on the subject and is talking about (and often to) people who have actually experienced quite disturbing situations.

[Gibbon1]

Your point about assuming competence in one field presumes competence in another is a good one. One should be very careful about what one uses their pulpit for.