Recently, as I was browsing the Hot Questions here, I came upon a question about allowing others to take your place on a bus.
One of the answers was based on personal experience, and while short and not specific is clearly not a wrong answer.
When the answerer was asked why he suggested just moving quietly rather than making a direct offer, he mentioned bad experiences with "overenthusiastic feminists" deriding him when offered.
What ensued was downvotes to the answer (down to -5!) for so-called misogyny. This comment has been deleted, possibly by its author, possibly by a moderator. If the second, this is rather horrific.
The answerer made it clear that he supports feminism and not once insulted anyone. Despite this, because he mentioned that the people who got mad at him were female and in some cases feminist, he was brought down quickly. From the later comments by him and me, it is obvious that support for him is overwhelming and that those insulting him are simply wrong.
Today I saw a post on the SE meta explaining that one of the principles of the "be nice" rule of this site is not to engage in ad-hominem attacks. In the answer I linked, that is clearly not being followed.
I know this is a heated topic. I may receive downvotes for simply mentioning that men don't enjoy being wrongly accused of misogyny. But the truth is, no one does. I find this unacceptable, and if a mod has deleted the so called 'controversial' comment, I request that the baseless slander offered to the answerer also be deleted.
Is this acceptable behavior on the Stack Exchange as a whole? Is it acceptable here? Why do you let it slide? Should we?
This is a growing issue on the internet. No defense is allowed on many sites. Can we stop it here?
EDIT: I have accepted an answer, because it is the only one I have so far and goes partway toward a solution. But as my primary point seems to have been misunderstood, I will add some clarification.
When an accusation is raised of someone attacking a minority, it is accepted. Even if it is patently false (as in this case) no one wants to dispute it out of fear of being associated with sexism, racism, or being a homophobe. Flags work only if people are not self-conscious about the issue. Sure, no one can see that you flagged the topic, but the subject is tainted and makes you feel tainted. This is what causes the lack of flagging. What I'm looking for is some way to combat this, not how to use the Stack Exchange interface to more effectively bring it to the eyes of someone who can do something.
EDIT 2: I am very happy with the answers I am receiving, as they do indeed explain how to handle situations when they arise. Still, the reason I asked the question was not to discuss any single case, but that I wanted to know what we can do to improve community awareness of a vector of attack that most will dismiss at first glance.