The XX Factor: What women really think.

It's Women, Not Girls, and It's Not Funny

Yes, Charlotte Allen really has outdone herself with this one, but then we’re all writing about it and forwarding it and reading it, so the Post really sort of won by losing again, didn’t it? In case anyone at the Post (and yes, the Post owns Slate) cares about anything beyond the click-throughs, the Allen piece does illuminate all of the Five Universal Commandments of Writing About Women:

1. It’s not sexism if it's women trashing women.

2. Writing by women about women need not be held to the same critical or analytical standards as writing by men because—I suppose—we really are as stupid as Allen suggests.

3. No need for originality in pieces by women about women. Oprah, Celine, and Grey’s Anatomy never get old. Good times.

4. When all else fails, say the piece was meant to be funny. Then you can say that anyone who didn’t like it has no sense of humor.

5. Laugh all the way to the bank.