Not an insider

Women criticizing sexism in geek communities may be told that either their perspective is warped or that they are not well informed enough to comment because they are not an insider. This may take the form of:

• the woman has misinterpreted the meaning of rhetoric and jokes that an insider would understand
• the woman has unfairly portrayed the extent of sexism in the community
• the woman has pointed out sexism on the part of a man who is himself not very central to the community
• the woman has pointed out sexism on the part of a man who "everyone knows" is just like that, or is a troll
• the woman has pointed out sexism on the part of a man who is so central to the community that the risk of losing him is worth losing any number of women

Criticizing a woman for misrepresenting the community may take place even if the woman did nothing more than name the man and point out where the remarks were made.

This tactic is often combined with accusations of harming the community, in which the woman is portrayed as trying to damage a community ethos she can't even begin to understand.

Examples

• Much of the Feminist Frequency Kickstarter backlash, as well as criticism of Anita Sarkeesian's work more generally, implicitly or explicitly claims that her critiques are invalid because she "isn't a gamer" -- disregarding, as a rule, evidence to the contrary, and usually without offering any definition of who exactly constitutes a "gamer".