If you’re a woman in the public eye—even just a niche Internet microcelebrity like myself—eventually people will settle on one main reason to hate you.
While getting crap for stupid stuff is hardly unique to women, I’ve noticed that criticism of women tends to fall into a few basic categories:
Slut: You’re thirst-trapping, you’re an “Onlyfans girl” (even if you don’t actually have Onlyfans.) It doesn’t take much to be recognized as a slut—even just being single and actively in the dating scene is enough.
Bitch: You’re mean. Your whole brand is based around being an asshole. Maybe you’re not actually mean—you’re just not afraid to offend. You’re unapologetic in your views and you aren’t going to disclaim or coddle. Maybe you’re not even mean at all, but like Nara Smith or Ballerina Farm, you present a lifestyle that’s clearly too aspirational for anyone to find relatable.
Boring: Most likely, if you’re boring you won’t even get far enough to be a microcelebrity because while people will happily consume content from bitches and sluts, they don’t want to consume boring content. But on the off-chance that it happens, people will note that you’re too basic, derivative, and overrated.
Ugly: Again, you don’t need to actually be ugly to earn the ugly label, but if you’re not conventionally attractive, or if you seem too arrogant for your degree of attractiveness, people will be quick to point out that you’re ugly and/or fat.
Some people get lucky enough to claim two or three of these categories at once. Amy Schumer and Lena Dunham claimed all four categories somehow. Women can do anything.
But what happens when you successfully avoid all four of these categories? You’re not sexually provocative, you’re not mean to anyone, you have a sense of humor (or at least aren’t dull,) and you generally fit into a mold of what people consider attractive, or at least not unattractive?
Well, then, you’re quirky.
Derogatory.
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