I think it belongs in the Women Travelers forum because we think about these situations different than men.
I'll share my story and maybe that can help some.
I went on a mission trip with 14 other people from my church. We were all ticketed on random PNRs and the PNR I was on had another lady. I have delta gold status and the flight was oversold so they op up'd us to business for Atlanta to Rio. I felt bad about this, but the other lady said "at your age (mid 20s) I used to care about things like that but at my age (mid 30s) I'd just take it and not think twice." We sat in business. The whole week of the trip everyone would make comments about it and I felt awkward. On the return flight we were in coach with everyone else in the group.
In the end though, I don't really talk to them anymore anyway so I don't care. If they let something like that change their opinion of you, then what kind of person are they?