Lessons to learn from Sam Harris' response to being called sexist.

Note, this is concerned with the response "I'm not the sexist pig you're looking for" and reactions to it, not the original incident.

Lessons

1. Some people will be against you, almost regardless of what you actually say.

2. Some people will support you, almost regardless of what you actually say.

3. If you want to convince a neutral observer (as in my humility I consider myself to be...)
    that you are not sexist, you should probably avoid saying things along the lines of:

• (most) women regard all men as potential aggressors
• I tend to respect women more than men
• women need guns to be able to defend themselves against men
• I was raised by a single mother
• good men protect women from evil men

as these things are, in the context of a defense against accusations of sexism, and for some of them in any context at all, heavily redolent of the "women are wonderful/special/need protecting" strand of sexism.