Toxic Femininity Women are their own worst enemies, study finds

[PhineasSpear]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/18/women-own-worst-enemies-study

Girls can be mean to other girls, but it is adult women who vie to destroy each other, according to a new book hitting the headlines in America.

Kelly Valen's The Twisted Sisterhood, soon to be published in the UK, reveals that almost 90% of the 3,000-plus women who took part in her survey frequently felt "currents of meanness and negativity emanating from other females".

Almost 85% of those who took part in the 50-question survey admitted having suffered serious, life-altering knocks at the hands of other women.

They reported that many of their female friendships had an "intense, sinister underbelly", characterised by "intrafemale incivility" and insidious, "gratuitous negativity". More than 75% had been hurt by the jealousy and competition of a friend.

Valen said there was "a distinct undercurrent of meanness and negativity plaguing our gender"

"These secret, social battles are waged, in many cases, by the very same women singing the praises of girl power, feminism, and female friendship in their lives."

Valen said she was shocked by the number of women who told her that they endured their female friendships behind "frozen smiles and a facade of intimacy". The battles waged beneath the surface were so merciless, she was told, that women felt unsafe with each other.

"They have correctly identified that the primary threat to [their] emotional security radiates ... from fellow females," Valen said.

In the highly personal article, she first broached the idea that "our greater society of women is idling in an unhealthy, disconnected, and discombobulated state".

"The reaction to my 2007 article was devastating to me personally," she said. Valen was accused of being heretical and disloyal to the gender. She was lambasted on forums such as the website Jezebel, the blog Feministe and the Washington Post. Female academics, book clubs and the greater blogosphere reacted with fury. "Some dealt vicious blows," said Valen. "How dare I air the ladies' dirty laundry! I was anti-woman, a 'femalesogynist' and an obviously bad mother."

"Any suggestion that women are co-architects of their unhappiness for failure to prosper [was considered to be] tantamount to misogyny, horizonal hostility and internal sexism," she added.

The attacks became so personal that Valen was hesistant to develop her thesis in Twisted Sisterhood. "My skin isn't all that thick. I wanted nothing but to crawl back to my cave and forget the whole thing.

Valen's question has been welcomed by some important voices. Psychotherapists – and best friends – Luise Eichenbaum and Susie Orbach have noted that: "Behind the curtain of sisterhood lies a myriad of emotional tangles that can wreak havoc on the overall health and quality of our lives".

Even celebrities have begun questioning how adult women interact. Gwyneth Paltrow posted anguished messages on her website about schadenfreude and frenemies. Sienna Miller recently told InStyle magazine that, "I've been at war, without a doubt. I have really experienced the judgment of women. There's no sisterhood."

This reminds me of Erin Pizzey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Pizzey

Pizzey says that she has been the subject of death threats and boycotts because her experience and research into the issue led her to conclude that most domestic violence is reciprocal, and that women are as capable of violence as men. These threats eventually led to her exile from the UK. She has also stated that she is banned from the refuge she started.

Talk about friendly fire.
Also one thing to note:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3629279/

In this paper we examined factors that influence feminists’ reactions to gender discrimination. Participants, all self-identified feminists, were presented with a description of gender discrimination in the workplace. Results confirmed our prediction that feminists’ responses to the situation depended on who the victim of discrimination was and whether feminist identity was threatened. The situation was more likely to evoke greater compassion towards the victim when the victim was presented as a feminist (an in-group member) than when she was presented as conservative (an out-group member). Hypotheses predicting main effects of threat were not supported. However, we found a significant interaction of threat to feminist identity with victim’s worldview on perceived unfairness. Analyses revealed that under identity value threat the situation was perceived as more unfair when the victim was a fellow feminist than when she was presented as conservative. Also, only when the victim was presented as having conservative views, compared to a low-threat condition, feminist identity threat decreased perception of the situation as unfair.

I may do a theory post on this among other things (ect. how women become narcissistic) but for now, any thoughts on this?

 

[AutistSupremacist]

That goes without saying.

 

[GloomyGhoul]

While lacking intelligence, foids are some of those most emotionally manipulative creatures out there

 

[Ren Hoek]

Clown gender

 

[PhineasSpear]

While lacking intelligence, foids are some of those most emotionally manipulative creatures out there

I'm convince women unironically suffer from a degree of pyschopathy.

Clown gender

Tell me about it.

 

[minimaltz]

the most empathetic gender allegedly

 

[Quarantined]

but they all agree that they despise unattractive men

 

[lifesucksandyoudie]

Incels also aren't violent too.

"Despite rare but high-profile instances of ideological violence, most empirical research shows that they struggle primarily with poor mental health rather than engage in organized extremism."
"Empirical research consistently shows that most incels are not violent, not aligned with far-right extremism, and instead struggle with poor mental health, including depression, anxiety, loneliness, and autism (see Costello, 2025 and Costello et al., 2024 for reviews). Approximately 20% of incels report experiencing daily thoughts of suicide (Costello et al., 2025a, b). Yet these realities lack the same cognitive appeal as stories about a group-level threat to women, and so they are overshadowed in public discourse."

Why Incels Capture Attention: A Cultural Attraction Theory Perspective - Evolutionary Psychological Science

Incels (involuntary celibates) are an online subculture whose members define themselves by a perceived inability to form sexual or romantic relationships. Despite rare but high-profile instances of ideological violence, most empirical research shows that they struggle primarily with poor mental...

link.springer.com

 

[PhineasSpear]

Incels also aren't violent too.

Why Incels Capture Attention: A Cultural Attraction Theory Perspective - Evolutionary Psychological Science

Incels (involuntary celibates) are an online subculture whose members define themselves by a perceived inability to form sexual or romantic relationships. Despite rare but high-profile instances of ideological violence, most empirical research shows that they struggle primarily with poor mental...

link.springer.com

Bookmarked. Also I'm more apt to believe that every bad thing women do to other women, they just project it on men to save face.

 

[GloomyGhoul]

the most empathetic gender allegedly

People who like to boast about how empathetic they are usually aren’t very empathetic

 

[Zionist]

Idk why but I thought your avi was a picture of Marx

 

[SmhChan]

Niggerdian article? I'm pretty they are blaming men in the article.

 

[Subhumantruecel67]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/18/women-own-worst-enemies-study











This reminds me of Erin Pizzey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Pizzey

Talk about friendly fire.
Also one thing to note:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3629279/

I may do a theory post on this among other things (ect. how women become narcissistic) but for now, any thoughts on this?

Foids fighting for chad, nothing interesting

 

[xoxo_404]

but they all agree that they despise unattractive men

 

[xoxo_404]

Incels also aren't violent too.

Why Incels Capture Attention: A Cultural Attraction Theory Perspective - Evolutionary Psychological Science

Incels (involuntary celibates) are an online subculture whose members define themselves by a perceived inability to form sexual or romantic relationships. Despite rare but high-profile instances of ideological violence, most empirical research shows that they struggle primarily with poor mental...

link.springer.com

 

[xoxo_404]

the most empathetic gender allegedly