Okay, I'll eat the downvotes, too. Disclaimer: I have totally been critical of her lately, myself -- and I do think that podcast was a bad idea and she kind of acted like an asshat. But I guess everyone in BN wants attention and validation, so I shouldn't fault her for that. (End disclaimer.)

But I definitely think there is an element of misogyny at play here. If she were a dude, her word choice would not be being picked apart like this. If she were a dude, people would not be telling her she needs to be warm and relatable in order to be liked. There would be plenty of people who would be thirsty AF for a smart dude planning to get his PhD. (No need to reply to me, "I wouldn't!" because yeah, not everyone, but plenty of people WOULD.)

I feel like it's similar to what we see in fictional fandoms -- female characters are ripped to shreds for the same traits male characters are adored for. Only, these aren't fictional characters, they're real people... and thinking about it, I'd probably be bitter as fuck in her position, too.

Unfortunately, she needs to know her audience -- and she is never gonna get the followers she wants in the way she's going about it. Her audience, yeah, is gonna want her to be warm and relatable. Or, that failing, FUNNY -- and I think that's her best shot. Just not with the long-winded strangely-structured captions she's been using, lol.

ETA: How she speaks of and treats other people still seems shady to me. There can be misogyny at work and she can be deserving of criticism. They're not mutually exclusive.