What I can tell you as someone who has spent altogether too much time on HN is that for the most part, the people writing the worst comments on these threads are drive-by anonymous trolls, and not serious members of the community. Further, people who have a serious HN presence who contribute to the muck on these threads are, as you can see from the grey cast their comments take, driving themselves into pariah status. You'll notice that even when a creepy comment is written by someone with a lot of karma... they're gonna tend not to have their real names on their profile.
There's probably not a whole lot HN can do in the near term to keep hostile, offensive noise off threads like these. Anyone can make an account, and some people keep a whole battery of sockpuppet accounts handy so they can stir shit up on the threads. All I can tell you is that if you feel like you need to stand up for yourself on a thread like this, there are lots of long-time serious people on HN who will have your back. If you don't want to do that, nobody can blame you.
Welcome to HN, by the way. Stick around.
Java type system debates don't usually come with a side of blaming all men (especially low status men like most engineers) for the actions of a few (usually extremely high status) men. I would expect a lot more angry comments on Java typechecking if that topic impacted directly on every man's chance of social and professional livelihood.
Also, as a man, I have benefited from literally millennia of people advantaging my gender. If I occasionally get blamed for that, I think I can handle it. Maybe you can too?
You don't have to be active on HN to apply for YC. There's a technical requirement to have an account, just because YC's software systems were built that way, but there's definitely no requirement beyond that. I hope you'll participate, but if this has been your introduction to the "community" I can understand why you might not want to.
Sorry you are having some trouble with it. (I would have emailed you these remarks, but, again, no ready means to do so.)
Too much of the community here is unable to have either an intelligent, or empathetic, response to articles like this. Many comments are not even trying to learn something from the OP, which should be the baseline approach. Even a small proportion of these comments can completely derail the thread.
They employ a variety of diversionary tactics (probably unconscious!). Like hyper-rational "what if"/"did they consider"/"yes, but" reactions, objections to language in the original post, objections to hypothetical language or attitudes in other places on the internet.
I assume that it's a maturity issue, although I've known immature people who have healthier reactions to issues regarding equal treatment in the workplace than the ones here.
(Incidentally, before taking these opinions too seriously, it might be funny to peruse https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5326511)
For what it's worth, these threads are always train wrecks, and many here avoid participating and even reading because of it. Usually, they just get flagged straight off the front page, though that hasn't happened here.
HN hits a lot of high notes, so if you learn to tune out the noise, you'll probably enjoy your stay here much more.
Looking at my comment history, I have several points from random, off-the-cuff observations and negative two points from well-thought-out comments that are related to programming. That's HN for you. Of course, there are also fascinating, interesting, and relevant comments posted all the time, or I'd never visit HN.
Also, tptacek's comment is very correct. Stories like these seem to light HN on fire. Just look at the front page right now - this story has 100 points more than its closest competitor, and almost as many comments.