Pedantery ahoy, but I’ll take your question at face value.

There is no such term, as nobody is a whataboutist. Whataboutism is a rhethoric tool.

While some rhethoric tools are always used intentionally, like jaq-ing and concern trolling. some are frequently (far from always!) used unconsciously because they just feel right:

Attack on character, sealioning, whataboutism, appeal to authority, argument to moderation, fallacy of the beard, false dilemma, false equivalence, kettle logic, et cetera.

In my experience, the answer to your question is “usually not”.

I think that some do, some don’t.

Some people who use the fallacy (it’s a type of red herring) show signs of knowing that it’s logically invalid, and that they’re still doing it because they value persuasion over moral/intellectual standards. But in some cases it smells a lot like plain lack of rational thinking.

Some do; others think it’s a valid argument because they see their media sources (or at least people around them) do it.

What about a whataboitist that’s in fact a she? Or, like “they”

Yeah I thought so.

(/s)

I don’t think people who use the term know anything about anything.

Please keep all replies on topic. People should be able to have a discussion about the term without devolving into personal attacks.