I feel ya. There are some commentors whose opinions I respect tremendously; I'd be shellshocked if one of them replied to me in the way you're describing. FWIW, it sounds like you were unfairly piled onto. :(

So this is my general take on life, but I think it applies to Internet comment wars as much as anything. In any argument, you have to evaluate exactly what you're hoping to achieve and ignore all the other temptations along the way. To wit:

Eh, I've never seen an episode and had no idea there was scientific justification for keeping him male. So maybe that was one too many assumptions for each of us?

Ugh. Because white boys are the ones who need more role models? Cry me a river of male tears.

I hate this question with a fiery passion. Nobody asks it about creating male characters, because the idea of a strong man is natural and credible in our culture, but also because men are allowed to exhibit the full range of human ability/experience and still be interesting. The "strong women" question simultaneously…

I've largely avoided that argument and I'm suddenly very glad, because as you said...yeesh. The point of having a female Doctor is that there's no reason not to have a female Doctor, in much the same way that there's no reason not to have an Asian woman play John/Joan Watson, or a black man play James Bond (make it…

OMG adorable I want them. But not as much as I want Sockness Monster: http://www.artisansocks.com/sock-it-to-me/…

I read a study by David Lisak that put the number as 14% among serial rapists, with 63% of rapists qualifying as serial rather than one-time offenders (link here: http://www2.binghamton.edu/counseling/doc…). Obviously it's incredibly difficult to get an accurate number because it requires self-reporting from rapists,…

Yes! This! Not to mention the assumption by the actual people who pulled me into the meeting that I'm the best person in the (otherwise male) room to operate the slide show of their presentation notes.

You're right, it may very well be tied to your original suggestion, but it could also be so many other things. After a certain point it becomes a chicken-and-egg argument, you know? The unconscious bias we all carry around within us says that power, ego, and confidence are the signs of a good employee and that men are…

I was very lucky that my parents, especially my mom, deliberately sought out picture books depicting every race/culture they could find. Apologies if you already know a bunch of these (you probably do), but I have to share out of deep nostalgia:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-pro…

I hated that. I worked in tech (95% male office) and sat near the door in our cube farm, so whenever a non-employee rang the bell, I was one of the ones who routinely got up from my desk to answer the door. Mistaken for a secretary every single time, something that happened to my male coworkers approximately never.…

Have you ever brought up the pay discrepancy to a supervisor? I posted this link on another thread, but I'll add it here: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-pro…

I know I'm not the original commenter, but this article might be of interest to you: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-pro… According to the study, men and women in hiring positions were equally gender biased.

Can you give snippets of the texts? I mean, is the exchange itself what you want to talk about, or do you just want to vent about the crappy day in general? (Either is obviously fine, just trying to be an outlet if you want to talk about a specific case of the weirds.)

Hummmmmmmina...that is all kinds of distracting.

Yep. He tries not to take offense, but...imagine you're about to have sex with a guy for the first time. He's the one who's had a silent crush on you for forever, and all of a sudden he gets a phone call (which he answers while on top of you, half naked), apologizes for being rude and taking the phone call, then does…

Parents: "What's on your Christmas list this year?"

$550 million is the equivalent of the One Ring for me. I would buy the Democratic Party and go to war with the Koch Brothers. I would have nothing but good intentions...at first.