I also definitely didn’t read your username, so don’t take anything i said to be a reaction your female handle. I definitely assumed a male writer (which is it’s own problem).It is, in fact, a much larger problem.
To my mind, white knighting is about men playing hero in order to enhance their ego and public reputation as the primary or sole goal such that actually addressing sexism is not only incidental, it's actually counter to their goal.
Being chewed out by you and lectured about how I'm wrong to find any of this offensive amounts to mansplaining.
At every turn, no matter how much men theoretically decry the existence of sexism in the world and pretend to fight against it, when push comes to shove, they expect to be treated with respect by women while not themselves being respectful to women. That expectation amounts to demanding deference from women.
Start by working on treating actual women you are actually interacting with in the here and now with actual respect instead.
That includes not assuming everyone you speak with on HN is male. If you don't know, don't assume. That assumption based on the odds is a fundamental part of sexism, racism, etc. It's a really huge issue.
If you really want to see change in the world, get with the man in the mirror and work on his bad habits. He's the person you have the most control over.
If every man who ever beat his chest about how sexism is a bad thing spent more time working on his bad habits, things would change.
Instead, what happens is every time I comment, multiple people treat me like shit and then come up with justifications for their behavior and reasons why the problem is me and then fail to see the irony in decrying sexism while basically telling me "Shut up, woman." in the same breath.
