If the vast majority of HN participants are male, the leaderboard composition is a function of demographics, not some kind of &quot;man filter&quot; you&#x27;ve had to overcome. If your username is so generic that people frequently misgender you, how can it also be the case that you&#x27;re simultaneously held to a higher standard on account of being a woman?<p>(Well, you might imagine that commentators here are _deliberately_ misgendering you, which is a suggestion so preposterous that I can&#x27;t entertain it. It might also conceivably be the case that you&#x27;ve gained so much karma _because_ you have an androgynous username, but see below.)<p>As a man, I find it extremely frustrating when advocates for women in technology look at a phenomenon where men and women are imbalanced and immediately jump to sexism as the explanation. I&#x27;ve had a long career in technology. Not once have I seen a woman discriminated against or her ideas held to a higher standard than the ideas of men. I&#x27;ve seen plenty of mentoring, encouragement, and outreach however. I&#x27;ve personally worked to mentor women in computer science. The idea that there is some systemic bias against women on Hacker News or in the workplace is inconsistent with my experience and with the professed views of my colleagues.<p>I think we need additional empathy here. Maybe it&#x27;s the case that _everyone&#x27;s_ ideas are dismissed too quickly. Numerous times in my career, I&#x27;ve proposed $FOO, been told $FOO is impossible, and only been believed after actually _implementing_ $FOO, often on my own time after tending to my official responsibilities. When some women get this treatment, they call it sexism. When I get it, I call it the reality of working in a world that combines empiricism and huge egos. I think a lot of women in technology are genuinely unaware that men get this treatment too. Maybe it&#x27;s shitty for everyone and not just women.