Sexism is bad.  Still, I’m going to say something crazy here, so get ready.  Seeing sexism everywhere, or trying desperately to shoehorn it in to every political setback for a woman, disregarding all other factors involved, is also bad.  Very bad.

Let me give you an example to clarify the concern.  George Mason University political science professor (you knew it had to be a college prof, didn’t you?) Jennifer Victor became openly disgruntled when Democrats began considering dumping Nancy Pelosi as the next Speaker of the House.  In response she put out this now-viral reaction:

“Don’t like Pelosi, but can’t quite articulate why?  Felt the same way about Hillary Clinton?  Time for some deep self-reflection about gender bias and leadership.”

As much as I admittedly appreciate seeing the same political movement that created this crazed intersectionality divisiveness be hoisted on its own petard, this is a maddening thought process.  And it’s even more exasperating given that it is coming from a college professor.

One of my favorite new voices on the right, National Review’s Alexandra DeSanctis, exposed the gaping flaw in logic by responding: 

“Don’t worry, I dislike Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders just as much as I dislike Pelosi and Clinton, and this will come as a shock to you, I’m sure, but I can articulate a reason for all of it: They support policies I disagree with.”

Bingo.  The obsession with blaming every disagreement someone has with a female on sexism is as tired and intellectually lazy as blaming every disagreement someone has with a black person on racism.  What the left signals every time they promote this drivel is just how obsessed they are with racial and gender dividing lines.

Another way of reading Victor’s position, after all, is that regardless of whether you have sincere policy or methodological differences with Pelosi, you should support her for Speaker because she’s a woman.  Would Pelosi want that?  Would Victor want to be told that she got her job at George Mason simply because she was a woman?  Or is that not itself more demeaning and patronizing than being passed over in deference to a more likable man in the first place?

If someone gives ample reason to suggest they have dismissed a capable woman for the mere fact that she is a woman, then advertise their offending remarks and let the public decide.  But without such reason, it’s simply slanderous to assign bad motives to someone who may simply just disagree with your politics.

Jennifer Victor responded to the criticism for his statement with the standard, “You didn’t understand what I was saying” defense.  And while I think her statement is fairly self-explanatory, I guess I hope that’s the case.  I hope I didn’t understand what she was saying.  Because if I did, she and others who think like her represent the most serious modern threat to the full and unfettered appreciation for competent and capable women in leadership.