I read HN almost every day, going on 10 years now. I have a sense, judging by when gender issues get discussed and women such as myself pipe up obviously, it's in the low 10s or at best 20% but more likely on the lower side.

My note on Beauvoir, I read plenty of her when younger and her mix of intellectual rigour with fierce independence was illuminating for me, definitely she influenced how I live as an independent thinker. She focused on facts and historical analysis to get her arguments across, without appeal to emotion. She also lived a true life of love and courage, and fought hard for her beliefs. Would recommend her biography to anyone interested in the history of 20th c feminism.

I’m more interested in how many people have a background in philosophy, existentialism, and psychoanalysis.

How many folks on HN have strong views on whether “existence precedes essence?”

It would be interesting to have an HN census