Holy shit. Well, thanks for providing a lovely example of the ridiculously fucked-up societal bullshit of which this guy's article barely scratches the surface.
Random forum member on the internet going "duh if you don't want to get harassed, don't wear a 'feminine' helmet!"
Jesus.
Yup.
Metacomment:
2 women come in and say "hey, yo, this shit happens", and a bunch of dudes show up to tell them how wrong they are.
Also violence/road rage directed towards women has the societal weight of massive amounts of sexualized violence against women loaded into it, so that's something to be considered as well.
As to me, well, I've been riding over a decade, and my wife rides, and let me tell you, the reactions range from (at best) completely ignoring her, to trying to boast about how badass a bike they're riding, which usually falls flat when she swings leg over the 1290 SuperDuke. :laughing Oh, and I've watched some absolutely fucking hairball bullshit take place like guys trying to touch her while passing her midcorner on public roads.
I've also seen women over the years who have dialed up the aggression to 13 to match the environment they live in on track. It's not a good outcome, and certainly not something I ever had to deal with as I went from C group to AFM racer.
If you're not seeing this shit, it's because you're letting the social defaults blind you, women don't trust you enough to talk honestly about their experiences, or you're not listening when they talk. Any woman who rides long enough will experience gendered harassment that a guy would never get - it's a matter of when, not if, as the writer of the article discovered.