One silencing tactic used in geek feminist debates is a claim that discussing sexism is a mere ploy to win an unrelated argument or to draw attention away from another issue. This is often combined with the argument that accusations of sexism themselves are a uniquely powerful silencing tactic which is an effective way to win a debate unrelated to sexism.
This is related to the damaging my reputation silencing tactic, which also argues that sexism is a very powerful accusation which is regularly misused as a weapon.
Examples[]
- Several commenters in the EMACS virgins joke incident alleged that accusations of sexism were a mere argument tactic by geeks on one side of a technical argument.