Women Reveal Toxic Femininity is ‘Real and Dangerous’

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Henry Herrera: +1-301-801-0608

Women Reveal Toxic Femininity is ‘Real and Dangerous’

September 24, 2025 – Recent months have witnessed an outpouring of articles around the world on the topic of toxic femininity, including its causes, types, and effects. Ironically, the strongest critics of toxic femininity turn out to be women.

In August, women’s magazine Evie published a blockbuster editorial titled, “Can We Talk About ‘Toxic Femininity’ Yet?” The Evie editors revealed how positive female traits can become corrupted into unhealthy behaviors: “Negative feminine traits typically include emotional manipulation, passive-aggressiveness, and the weaponization of gossip.” (1)

Playing the victim is another facet of toxic femininity: “Popular culture constantly presents women as victims and ignores the other side of the argument.” In some cases, “feminine sexuality can distort into the abuse of sexual power to tease men and then play the victim,” the Evie editors reveal.

The end result? A “loss of gratitude for any virtue in traditional masculinity.”

Columnists in other countries have weighed in on the problem of toxic femininity, as well.

British writer Zuva Seven highlights how “an individual may resent or act harmfully to other women as a means to prove themselves. This could be done to receive a man’s attention, such as a romantic interest, teacher, boss, client, or male peer,” Seven explains. “Behaviors utilized can consist of gossip, spreading rumors to discredit someone, and the threat of social exclusion.” (2)

Rejecting the siren call of the Beauty Queen complex, Irish commentator Ciara Kelly emphasizes that toxic femininity is “real and dangerous.” (3)

Australian columnist Douglas Murray also has exposed the global problem of toxic femininity, which “includes the idea that we will be saved and our problems resolved by compassion and empathy, all other judgments and rationales being put to one side.” (4)

American podcaster Meghan Daum took the analysis a step further by enumerating a litany of female toxic behaviors (5):

Acting helpless in the face of an unpleasant task.
Blaming one’s own misbehavior in her period.
Coercing a man into sex.
Threatening to harm oneself if a man breaks up with you.
Being physically abusive to a male partner, knowing she is unlikely to face legal consequences.
Lying to a partner about being on birth control.

And Elizabeth Grace Matthew charges that women manipulate the public’s perception of female empathy in order to advance radical proposals, such as defunding law enforcement in the name of fighting racism. Matthew urges women to “develop mastery over that empathy and harness it to compliment reason, order and responsibility, rather than to patronize, excuse or tokenize.” (6)

The most important conclusion gleaned from these articles is that toxicity is neither a male or female characteristic: “Toxicity isn’t a gendered trait, but an individual one,” the Evie editors emphasize.

The Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance – DAVIA — consists of 201 member organizations from 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. DAVIA seeks to ensure that domestic violence and abuse policies are science-based, family-affirming, and gender-inclusive. https://endtodv.org/davia/

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