What's being implied here? that because the OP is not omnipotent that there is gender conspiracy?
Broadly making assumptions about everyone within a particular field is as bad if not worse than someone using an incorrect pronoun.
Just as an aside; everyone has to deal with imbeciles in this field whether it be the pointy haired boss or just gross incompetence, it's not gender specific.
And no, obviously I'm not saying people in the field of CS are all misogynist bigots. I'm just saying it's really, really male-dominated, so defaulting to "he" doesn't really cause problems. I'm not trying to attack anyone (and I agree it came off that way, I'm sorry), I just get frustrated when it's a perpetual thing I run into, y'know? Eventually I can get a little terse.
[1]http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/he
I hope I'm not explaining in a patronising manner.
I can't speak for you, but I'd find it puzzling at best, and a little upsetting at worst.
https://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/singular-t...
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/generic-s...
I really don't think you came off as far too aggressive at all. You called out a damaging trend and people interested in keeping privilege around didn't like it.
You know the answer: decades (centuries?) of usage defaulting to male.
OP went to great lengths to use neutral pronouns everywhere and you ding him (or her) for one slip up? One of the few people aware of the issues and trying to do good, someone in your camp?
And because of that obsession of yours, a good part of the entire discussion is now derailed.
You need to realize that you are part of the problem.
Oh my God. It's responses like yours that starkly remind me of how imbalanced it is for a woman in this industry and indeed in life.
I'm just saying that I've read some papers by leading feminist theatre art/drama scholars, and even they use the masculine pronoun.
Also, I find it annoying that while you adknowledge OP's attempt to be gender neutral, you destroy her (see what I did there?) over a single pronoun, which happens to be gendered but is used neutrally.
In this case the error is a little perplexing since the OP's name is "Lexi" which is almost never used as a male name!
If it's short for "Alexis," which is a claim you edited out of your comment, then I'm even more confused, as that name seems to be male preferred within the US.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Alexis
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Alexis&a=*C.Alexis-_*Gi...
I feel silly now.
Not really, minorities have to face stuff like this on a more frequent basis. Gendered pronouns are more than incorrect and are harmful.
> Just as an aside; everyone has to deal with imbeciles in this field whether it be the pointy haired boss or just gross incompetence, it's not gender specific.
You can't just sweep away sexism under a rug.
Stereotypes are different than sexism. Some stereotypes are sexist, but assuming that someone is a man when it is likely that he/she is isn't sexist.
Maybe irritating, and rash judgement - but that's stereotypes in general.
Sexism is a belief that one gender is better than the other, or that some gender is bad in some way. Does assuming that someone is a male programmer make them sexist? Not really - not unless you _also_ assume other implications like "women can't program", or other such nonsense. But that's a leap to make.
In my experience I've found people who assume genders to have a reason for assuming. The most common reason is they don't believe women can program as well as men.
