Apparently the mere existence of women’s emotions is perceived negatively. At the end of this article, supposedly-liberal Bill Maher even went on to criticize Ellen DeGeneres for crying on TV because (he says) it makes women look weak and not qualified to be President. WTF!
“Women are not making it up when they say they’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t,” said Stephanie Shields, the psychology professor who conducted the study. “If you don’t express any emotion, you’re seen as not human, like Mr. Spock on ‘Star Trek,'” she said. “But too much crying, or the wrong kind, and you’re labeled as overemotional, out of control, and possibly irrational.”
[…]
“When men express anger they gain status, but when women express anger they lose status,” Yale social psychologist Victoria Brescoll, who conducted three experiments on how people perceive female anger, said in an interview.
– The crying game: male vs female tears – Yahoo! News
I’m so angry I could cry. Damn you, feelings!
A Washington Post article on Monday talked about The Myth of the Iron Lady:
“Experiments show that women vying for leadership roles are automatically assigned two labels. The first is to be seen as nice and warm, but incompetent; the second is to be seen as competent but unpleasant. Women stuck with Label A cannot be leaders, because the stereotype of leadership is incompatible with incompetence. Women who do become leaders get stuck with Label B, because if leadership is unconsciously associated with manliness, cognitive consistency requires that female leaders be stripped of the caring qualities normally associated with women.”