That doesn't work for a long list of reasons that I get tired of trying to explain. It boils down to "If I have to actively hide my gender to make money in business, my gender is still a barrier to success."

Some issues:

1. If men will only take me seriously if they think I'm a man, what happens if they arrange to meet me in person and find out I'm a woman?

2. How do I arrange to accept payment online for work while continuing to hide my gender? My name is not gender neutral.

3. Business is done on a basis of trust. How do I convince people to trust me when they find out I have been actively deceiving them wrt my identity and gender?

There are other complications specific to me as an individual, but women generally will face the above issues if they try to take advice to simply hide their gender as a supposed "solution" to such problems.

I've heard that kind of thing a lot -- "On the internet, no one knows you're a dog if you don't tell them" -- and it ignores a lot of critical details. You can potentially be anonymous online for purposes of engaging in discussion in a forum but if you wish to actually make money, it gets vastly more challenging to be anonymous and hide your gender.

> my gender is still a barrier to success

But it's no longer a barrier to YOUR success, and you just might, if it's what you want, have the comfort and audience in your success to spread this message more effectively.

But if you feel gas-lit, and like you're yelling into the wind, finish your breath and change tactic.

I did a fair amount of business through my wife's Facebook account (via groups and marketplace) and never ran into any of the 3 issues you mentioned.

I did run into some sexism, but not enough to make me want to make my own account.

Said another way: get your foot in the door as an androgyny whoever, like most users connecting with other users on the internet do — and then do your thing from there.

Genuinely: Do you want to do business with the sexists etc, anyway?