If you're looking for "sexism," it's at the bottom of the list

I saw an argument (well, it was more like an group attack on one woman) on the Web about this. The people who responded to the poster's plea for non-sexist criticsm got defensive because, after all, Ann Coulter and her ilk deserve any kind of attack that's dished out to them. This is the kind of argument you expect from the oh, so enlightened people who post on "liberal" boards. But that was only one of the responses. The other, much more powerful, response was the old "we have so many important things to deal with, and you're bringing up language?" argument. Accompanied by the "we have so many important things to deal with and you're bringing up sexism?" response.

Once, I posted on a supposedly liberal board how insulting it was for a grown woman to be called a girl. The men attacked me, and the women said they understood, but they had "bigger fish to fry." I've said it a thousand times, so why not say it again? There is nothing more important than language. Language is how we express our deepest beliefs to the world. It is the currency of most thoughts and feelings. Language tells you what I really think and believe. It is the outward visible sign of everything that is inward.