“Man” is generally acknowledged to refer to both men and women when a person is speaking generally.
I understand that many people who did not grow up many decades ago may not be as sensitive to certain forms of expression as those of us who experienced sexual harassment in our youth. And some people may not be aware that their parents inculcated a subtle inclination to resent women more intensely than they resent men who have power over them and to denigrate such women more vociferously than they would a man.
I understand that many people who did not grow up many decades ago may not be as sensitive to certain forms of expression as those of us who experienced sexual harassment in our youth.
Such as this young man, who was speaking directly to Feistein, yet he's criticized for language he (I'm guessing) never realized may appear to be degrading to some.
He was speaking about and to a specific person. A woman. Not numerous people. In my example, he's speaking to a specific person (though fictional). A man. Is my example offensive to men?
I mean no disrespect and know I cannot fathom what it must be like to be a woman who has been harassed. I feel too much has been read into his letter, and the point of his letter has been hijacked by those who choose to be offended by his use of the term "woman" when they have no idea of his intent at the time he wrote the letter.
Perhaps he is a chauvinist wife beater, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since his letter was to refute the intended legislation of Senator Feinstein.