Sexism of Teh Nets

Can the internet itself engineer a hostile environment toward women in chat rooms, etc?

The issue of online anonymity doesn’t necessarily allow sexism. User names are frequently neutral in gender, and in the 8 years since Sterne’s article the internet has changed drastically, high speeds, broader access, and more user friendly browsers have all added to diversity.

Lets just assume that the internet IS biased against women, if this is true it isn’t necessarily intentional. Robert Moses’s bridge construction appeared to be racist in motivation. What if his goal was to make things easier for people, and it just happened to not help the poor blacks as much as the rich whites? I get the idea the same dynamic was in play as the internet has mutated over the years. Each person that has mutated the internet’s function and form haven’t been trying to make hurdles for noobs, or women; they have been developing faster and easier ways for themselves to navigate, and the hurdles have been a side effect.