Katha Pollitt: The End of Likability Politics

[guillaumeb]

From the article:

The nasty women of America are delivering on their promises—and they don’t care what their conservative male colleagues think....

Because what is likability if not a deference to men—with a self-deprecating smile? A likable woman doesn’t talk too loud or too much. She doesn’t take up too much space, isn’t too sexy or too dowdy, and gracefully eludes confrontation. In short, she doesn’t demand anything that men would rather keep for themselves, be it political power or sexual autonomy or the right to be safe after having a couple of drinks. A likable woman doesn’t challenge women, either, by reminding them of the compromises they’ve made and the edges they’ve trimmed off their personalities.
Recently, though, there have been encouraging signs that women have stopped looking over their shoulders every five minutes for male approval—and it’s driving conservative men berserk.

To read more:

https://www.thenation.com/article/aoc-tlaib-warren-womens-march/

Another excellent article by Pollitt. The double standard is never so obvious as when conservatives use it against Democratic women.

[Phoenix61]

1. One of the joys of being an older woman

is being unlikeable whenever the hell I feel like it. I don't go looking for confrontation but I don't go out of my way to avoid it either.

[guillaumeb]

2. My view is that often men label women as unlikeable when

they cannot refute what the woman is saying.

All of the nonsense about Elizabeth Warren and her supposed unlikability.

[Phoenix61]

3. Yep. It's their go to when they know they

are wrong. When they are really, really wrong they resort to name calling.