Everybody panic – the workplace has become too ‘feminized’! | Arwa Mahdawi

Lean in (to misogyny), ladies!

Are you a woman? Do you want to quickly make yourself known and be included on the conference circuit? Are you good at mental gymnastics?

If you answered yes to all of the questions above, then gender scamming may be for you! This often lucrative career path involves explaining to less enlightened women why feminism has gone too far and why the world is much better run by men. You get extra points if you’re not white and can actually explain to the masses how racism is a good thing.

You can see this hustle in tradwife content all over social media. As Jameela Jamil recently noted, all the “traditional women” who preach to young women about how they should be submissive little ladies are big hypocrites. They’re all making money, building their brands, and maintaining their independence while telling other women they shouldn’t do the same thing.

You can also, of course, see gender-baiting on Fox News, where ambitious, albeit identitarian, female anchors rant on television about how #MeToo has gone too far.

And now, because the right has been so successful in rewriting reality, you can see gender scams all over the New York Times home page. On Thursday, the Times published a transcript of a recent episode of conservative columnist Ross Douthat’s Interesting Times podcast. This very interesting (in the British sense) the piece was originally titled: Have Women Ruined the Workplace? The title was later changed to become more nuanced: Has Liberal Feminism Ruined the Workplace?

Douthat generously invites two women into her own workplace: the podcast features two critics of liberal feminism, Helen Andrews and Leah Libresco Sargeant, in conversation about “what right-wing gender policy should look like.” Andrews apparently came to Douthat’s attention because she had just written an essay for Compact called The Great Feminization, which argues that feminism has failed because it has driven masculine virtues out of our institutions. The word “woke” was used without irony 11 times in the room: a safety sign that you shouldn’t take anything seriously.

Andrews continued to mumble awakening, awakening, awakening in his conversation with Douthat (variations of the word were used 25 times in the conversation), explaining that “the pathology in our institutions known as wokeness is distinctly feminine and feminized…in a very literal sense, our institutions have awakened because there are more women in them than before.” »

The conversation unfolds exactly as you would expect. Carefully selecting examples, Andrews explained that #MeToo is woke, that college campuses are too woke, and that “the law is currently lopsided in favor of the punishment of male vices and complete freedom from feminized vices.” In response to a question about what constitutes “feminine vices”, Andrews explains that women like to “talk” and are “unable to deal directly with conflict”.

Sargeant, who has valid criticisms of liberal feminism, does his best to object to some of this nonsense, but it’s Andrews who does most of the talking. Hilariously, near the end of the conversation, Douthat asks Andrews, “What do you like in women, Helen?” She seems unable to answer this question.

I know this is just one man’s podcast rather than, say, an editorial board article, but putting an article like this on the New York Times front page in 2025 is certainly a interesting decision. Taking the kind of misogynistic nonsense you see on Fox News and repackaging it as a pseudo-intellectual debate in a prestigious publication gives these arguments a dangerous validity. (If you want a real intellectual questioning of inequality between the sexes and supposedly traditional values, I suggest you read The Patriarchs by Angela Saini.)

While the New York Times questions whether liberal feminism has ruined the workplace, women’s rights are being questioned around the world. The same week this article was published, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was groped by a drunk man while mingling with citizens in the streets of Mexico City. The leader of a country cannot do his own job without being harassed in public, and the Times wants us to examine whether the workplace has been too feminized.

In the United States, the gender pay gap has widened for the second year in a row, and the Times wants us to consider the possibility that wokeness has gone too far. Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, recently ignored allegations of domestic assault made against Republican Rep. Cory Mills, and we are supposed to ponder, with a straight face, the idea that the workplace is now hostile to men. Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, has been accused of sexual assault. (Mills and Hegseth have denied the allegations.) Two of the five men serving on the U.S. Supreme Court have been accused of sexual misconduct. The President of the United States is an admitted sexual predator associated with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and we are supposed to think our institutions have been feminized. Really interesting times.

Mexican president files complaint after being groped
“This is something I experienced as a woman, but it’s something that every woman in our country experiences,” Sheinbaum said after being groped in the street. “If I don’t press charges, what will happen to all the women in Mexico? If they do this to the president, what will happen to all the other women in the country?” The incident felt like a personal affront to many women in Mexico, where violence against women and femicide are major problems. But you have to ask yourself, don’t you: Has feminism gone too far?

Nearly half of LGBTQ+ TV characters canceled
GLAAD’s 2025 report on queer representation on television shows a slight increase from last year’s 468 to 489 LGBTQ+ characters across all platforms. However, over 200 (41%) of these characters will not return, due to series cancellations, endings, or limited series formats.

New York’s new first lady wore a Jordanian-Palestinian fashion brand during Mamdani’s acceptance speech
With the genocide in Gaza no longer making headlines, it was wonderful to see Syrian-born Rama Duwaji wearing a Zeid Hijazi top. “With so many people driven out and silenced by fear, all I can do is use my voice to speak as much as possible about what is happening in the United States, Palestine and Syria,” Duwaji said in an interview in April. Duwaji is a talented artist whose work often examines Middle Eastern women.

Rigid gender roles push women to leave rural Japan
A Japanese government report reveals that 27% of young women want to leave their hometown, compared to 15% of young men, with gender inequality playing a significant role.

AI pop star Xania Monet hits the Billboard charts
Xania was created by Telisha “Nikki” Jones, a 31-year-old Mississippi woman who is not a singer herself. The AI’s creation led to a multi-million dollar recording contract as well as some backlash.

Nancy Pelosi announced she would retire from Congress
After nearly four decades in politics, the 85-year-old, who was the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House, will not run for re-election. Donald Trump commented with his usual grace and charm: “She was mean, corrupt and only focused on doing the wrong things for our country,” the president said on Fox News. Maybe it’s time for 92-year-old Chuck Grassley to think about retiring now.

Doctor Oz prepares an army of ‘Trump babies’ by 2026
It looks like a horror movie.

YouTube deleted more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations
“The move came in response to a U.S. government campaign to suppress responsibility for alleged Israeli war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,” the Intercept reports. Meanwhile, YouTube owner Google received a $45 million contract from the Israeli government to amplify its arguments.

The week in Pawtriarchy
Gardaí (Irish Police) recently received a call about a “lion-like” animal wandering in a wooded area in County Clare. After some research, it turned out that the animal was actually a Newfoundland dog called Mouse who had been given a drastic haircut. Gardai said Mouse was “delighted with his recent viral video clip”. This is an unattainable mane character energy.