Being Gendered Correctly

[Purrfectstorm]

By the way, people saying this is just the Internet and get thicker skin - there are laws in some states about cyber bullying and people have been prosecuted for it. For those of you thinking that words don't matter, think again. They can have real consequences and the existence of these laws is evidence of the state's acknowledgement of that.

[Demetirus]

By the way, people saying this is just the Internet and get thicker skin - there are laws in some states about cyber bullying and people have been prosecuted for it. For those of you thinking that words don't matter, think again. They can have real consequences and the existence of these laws is evidence of the state's acknowledgement of that.

1) Not everyone here lives in the states.
2) Sounds like you're trying to bully and threaten everyone who doesn't agree with you.

[Purrfectstorm]

1) Not everyone here lives in the states.
2) Sounds like you're trying to bully and threaten everyone who doesn't agree with you.

1) This is just irrelevant because
2) I'm not trying to say "don't do x because y will happen," I'm trying to say:

How we treat people, even in an anonymous setting like the Internet, matters. Given that it matters, we can't act like it doesn't matter. Even if you didn't know before, you know now. It's like, if I bought shoes made in a sweat shop somewhere but I didn't know and then someone told me that real people were being affected, I could stop buying the shoes and be a good person (for caring) or I could buy the shoes and be a bad person (for being selfish and uncaring). But what I can't do is buy the shoes and still be a good person.

I know my view of morality tends to be rather black and white but for me not caring about others is sort of the defining characteristic of a bad person.

[TrickedOutHoro]

By the way, people saying this is just the Internet and get thicker skin - there are laws in some states about cyber bullying and people have been prosecuted for it. For those of you thinking that words don't matter, think again. They can have real consequences and the existence of these laws is evidence of the state's acknowledgement of that.

Because using an incorrect pronoun for a stranger that you know nothing about is cyber bullying.