[throwawaycoder]

On the other hand women also receive special attention in tech circles. I'm not convinced that one is more overwhelming than the other. Maybe some men can't accept female techies, but they should be easy to avoid. Meanwhile the whole tech world is falling over themselves trying to entice women.

Of course if some women take it as an insult if men are enthusiastic about them being interested in tech, there is a problem. In my opinion that is a very stupid way to look at such situations (as the OP did). Just because it is rare to encounter a woman in tech and men therefore act surprised, it doesn't mean they think women are too stupid for it. It just means that it is rare, nothing else. I think usually they really mean it in a positive way if they express their surprise.

How many women do you personally know that you can have a conversation about Bitcoin with? So imagine you actually meet somebody like the OP who has thought about all sorts of aspects of Bitcoin. It is unusual, so personally I would be interested in how/why it happened. What is demeaning about that?