I don't think you're being knee-jerk or projecting; I ask because I have a hard time recognizing the dynamic on the internet, but I see it constantly in real life. Constantly. Women suddenly pretend to drop 20 IQ points, the conversation revolves around the dude who entered the room, and he's getting pettings and praise and treats for not being a complete neanderthal. How can men be so blind to the condescension and utter lack of expectations from women? How can they not see how humiliating that should be, being treated like a 3 year old who managed not to poop his pants on a long car trip?

But instead women compete with each other to see who can lower their expectations more and settle for less in a mate, just so a man will pay attention to them and thus validate their existence.

I just don't get it online. Why? O_o
To me, people online are kind of nebulously genderless with me seeing them more as feminine if they're good at discussions, and more as masculine if they like to soliloquize, until they identify themselves as their preferred gender. And even then I often forget what they said they were after a while. Maybe it's a straight people thing, and that's why I don't understand it.