Sexism can manifest itself in many ways, and the subtle ways arent less legitimate concerns just because it could be worse. "At least youre not getting beaten, be thankful for that".
Sexism can totally be if you are a "nag" and get called a "bitch"!
Talking about an isolated relatively minor situation with the lens of sexism becomes difficult, because without establishing a pattern of behavior, its hard to determine if the situation is sexism or not.
What happens when many females encounter similar attitudes in many CS work spaces. Will we still deny that society isnt perfect?