Heading off an extremely unproductive subthread:<p>It&#x27;s not that women (or people in ethnic minorities, or older workers, or demonstratively observant religious people) experience flak from peers at conferences or in their workplace.<p>It&#x27;s that they experience that flak <i>while being a member of a tiny minority</i>. It&#x27;s the power imbalance that makes this toxic.<p>Also: &quot;are you this socially awkward in every situation?&quot; and &quot;do you shower daily?&quot; cracks would be infractions in a lot of workplaces. If you did it repeatedly after being warned, you could get kicked off a team. It is absolutely <i>not</i> as if guys just hear this stuff all the time and deal with it. Probably nobody who believes that has ever managed a large team.