I am organizing a lecture series. As I am entering the lecture theatre, I notice that Professorin X is already in the room. I walk up to her beaming and say to her, “Welcome! I’m very pleased to have you as a guest. Did you have a pleasant journey?” She looks at me and says very harshly (so far, I have only been spoken to this harshly in my private life), “You’ve got some nerve! I’ve been waiting for you here for a quarter of an hour. At least I found the light switch!” I lose control of my facial expressions for a moment, then apologize for the misunderstanding. In the email I had sent her beforehand, I had suggested we meet a quarter of an hour before the lecture in the lecture theatre. If I had been a male colleague or professor, would she have attacked me in the same manner? Would she, the female professor, have felt as disrespected by my wrongdoing?