Is this instance of the word 'girls' hate speech?

[Kimstu]

Well, it was this post, in a thread previously pretty focused and detailed about the differences between the two eye-care specialties, where jtur88 remarked

@jtur88

An optometrist is a guy who hires girls to sell eyeglasses for him.

This usage was gently pushed back on by another poster, leading to the following exchanges:

@CairoCarol

That’s an optician, not an optometrist. And who knows, she might hire guys to sell eyeglasses for her.

@jtur88

[…] In my experience, though, optometrists and sales staff are both employees of opticians. The optician is largely a fashion industry, so (here in flyover states) the employees are mostly still girls, and readily identifiable as such.

@CairoCarol

“Girls”? Either they are hiring 16-year-olds, or you might consider updating your language. If they are over 18 but youthful in appearance, there is always “young women” to employ as an alternative, and more accurate, term.

@jtur88

[…] through 35 years I might have seen ten different (all male) optometrists […]

@BippityBoppityBoo

What does male have to do with it?

@jtur88

That was a reply to Cairo Carol, who said my optometrist might have been a “she”. It is so tiring, the the only comment on any post is only about its political correctness.

At which point jtur88 was “pre-warned” by a mod and flounced:

@jtur88

Never mind, I’m self-banning from this thread, since nobody wants to talk about anything but my politically incorrect pronouns, which was not my derail. I made a post on-topic, then defended against off-topic replies.

Sexist, somewhat demeaning, incoherent and illogical speech, definitely, but I would not classify it as “hate speech”. Except in the sense that I’d hate to speak like that.