[ahris]

There's a game called Valhalla, in which there is a fictional version of the internet where everyone online is assumed to be female and where women didn't have to hide their gender in online communities to avoid biases. The game's take on internet culture feels absurdist, but the satire really hits home when you see threads like this that highlights how invisible women are in our IRL internet culture.

In an ideal world, women don't have to call out their gender in comments (as another user suggests). Instead, we shouldn't assume all posters are male by default.

[jvzr]

I always find myself assuming the person writing the comment I'm reading to be a middle-aged white male, and I feel dumb and ashamed when I realize that's not it. FWIW I'm a white male living in a western country so I'm deeply privileged/prejudiced. It's good to have my biases put in check, but I wished I didn't have them in the first place.

Edit: typo it didn't->I didn't

[dominotw]

> I'm a white male living in a western country so I'm deeply privileged/prejudiced.

so is everyone else anywhere in the world. I've lived in India and Brazil.

> I wished it didn't have them in the first place.

How is this even possible :|. insn't our brain a pattern matching machine.

[shradha408]

This! This is why I asked this question. Most of the people have this assumption. It's important to feel the presence of female developers and techies on HN.