Likable.

[boston bean]

All the rage these days. Some women are. Some women aren’t. I am so god damned sick of the trope!

[spicysista]

1. Me too! I am sick of it.

The term is loaded for me. What does it matter anyways? Is the person in question competent? Decent? Trustworthy? Driven?
Those are the questions in which I'm most interested.
Kamala is has those great qualities and more! Yes we KAM!

[Lulu KC]

2. Thank you!

I was thinking earlier, trying to remember if I'd ever heard being "likable" applied to a man. I don't remember hearing it.

It's like we're never allowed to go beyond middle school.

[BWdem4life]

3. Not really

Although they do say "lacking charisma" etc. but no, I think "likable" is definitely a trope that needs to be retired.

Is Angela Merkel "likable"? does anyone even ask the question? We're not looking to date Kamala, we're looking for someone to lead the country.

Those who don't like her would not "like" any woman unless perhaps it was a Republican woman.

[Timeflyer]

4. I posted this before, but it applies here (still haven't finished reading the book)

"Likability" is only one of the many ways women have been judged and put down through the centuries. Reading "Off With Her Head: 3 thousand years of demonizing women in power," by E. Herman, 2022. Just started--here are the chapter titles--see #6.

1. The root of misogyny,
2. Her overweening ambition,
3. Why doesn't she do something about her hair?
4. The dangers of female hormones,
5. The alarming shrillness of her voice,
6. The mysterious unlikability of female candidates,
7. Who is taking care of her husband and children?
8. She's a witch and other monsters,
9. She's a bitch and other animals,
10. Her sexual depravity,
11. She's a murderer,
12. Additional tools to diminish her,
13. Misogynoir: when powerful people are female and black,
14. Off with her head!

Only started the introduction, but the chapter titles seem to cover all the low points of the Misogynist's Handbook.