In late November, a woman posted a photo of herself proudly holding her PhD thesis along with the announcement that she had successfully defended her dissertation. “Thrilled to say I passed my viva with no corrections and am officially PhDone,” she wrote. What followed was a case study in how the online right targets and harasses those who don’t fit into the narrow — and often conflicting — standards they’ve formulated for women.
“This woman is why everything is falling apart,” began one viral post by the YouTuber hoe_math, who makes videos about “the degradation of Western Civilization.” “She got a PhD for this, and from the looks of her, she probably believes that this entitles her to an extremely high-status lifestyle. Remember this when they tell you that women are ‘beating’ men at getting an ‘education.’”
“Crows feet and no children,” began another. “You literally have lived in the most…