I disagree with you that the barometer of offensive is simply whether someone was offended. I think a good argument can be made that the sexist statement was ob

I disagree with you that the barometer of offensive is simply whether someone was offended. I think a good argument can be made that the sexist statement was objectively wrong. This argument has been made elsewhere much more eloquently than I can, so I won't try to repeat it. But I think the fear behind "political correctness", which I used to share, is that whether one's behavior is rude is arbitrary and completely decided by other people. I think "you've been educated to the fact that the joke was offensive" is misleadingly simple. What's true is that many people, including me, think such jokes are offensive. But more importantly, one can think about these issues from a neutral point of view. When I was prodded, as a teenager, to think deeply about such issues, consider other points of view, and talk to a lot of people about sexism -- I agreed with the conclusion that these jokes are indeed offensive. I believe that anyone who goes through the same process will inevitably reach the same conclusion. That said, as with any contentious issue, in the end it's everyone's privilege to decide for themselves.