My friend joined a car forum, because she’s into cars. She wanted to ask about car components, and the thread got about 14 pages in just a few days, but most people weren’t actually answering her questions, they just kept accusing her of being a man because the forum apparently once had someone “pretending to be a woman”. They kept calling her he/him, even though she said that she is a she (she’s cis). She’s 23 and most of the userbase on the mentioned forum are men in their 30’s and 40’s. She was being civil throughout the entire thing mentioning that it’s rude to misgender someone. Apparently the way she talked was too “proper” to be “girly” and people responded that her knowledge of car components was a “red flag” that she must secretly be a man. She pointed out that she doesn’t know why they’re so obsessed over a random stranger’s genitals and they replied back with “you’re the one who mentioned genitals, we think you’re the obsessed one here”. I wish that I was joking. Reminds me of the internet 20 years ago.
I don’t think most real women would bring up the fact that they’re a woman - especially on a car forum. Not that they’d hide it, but just wouldn’t bring it up, the same way most men don’t bring up that they’re men. When someone makes a point of mentioning it, it immediately raises suspicion, and if they get defensive about it, that’s another red flag. Throw in a gendered username or an avatar on top of that and you’ve got all the hallmarks of a guy pretending to be a woman.
I know some women are genuinely into cars - I even know one personally - but that doesn’t mean they can’t act like men. And most men have been fooled enough times online that we’ve just gotten pretty cynical about it.