Even feminist writers seem to react somewhat more harshly to women who disagree with them than to men. The men are sexist doofs. The women are traitors with terrible motives and worse morals.Since I’m a soft-libertarian squish, the beauty is that I get these things from both sides–many more from progressives, to be sure, but enough from the other side to know that it’s very much a bipartisan vice. And I’m hardly alone; name any female op-ed writer or politician, and I guarantee she gets the kind of cricisim that will make your eyes bleed. And that’s just the overt stuff–the covert stuff is probably more harmful.
It seems to be some sort of universal that women who make forceful political arguments garner a particular sort of vitriolic reaction. 150 years since the feminist movement really got going, it’s still the case that women doing “male things” get seen very differently from men–and not just by men, but also by women, as studies have repeatedly shown. Men who take charge in a business situation are forceful and competent; men who argue passionately for their political views are warriors. Women who do the same thing are … well, a word that I try not to use, whether or not I’m writing for a family blog.