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In the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada, Meryl Streep plays the iconic, cruel and cold Miranda Priestly.

She is the antagonist of the piece, she's rude, heartless, and conniving.

At times, the film offers glimpses of sympathy, however, she’s ultimately a villain. Her character represents the ultimate villainy of a woman in power.

There is often an idea that a woman cannot have it all: if you have a successful career, you cannot have a happy home life: according to society, women cannot be overly greedy: you have two options, and we must pick one, if we dare to choose both, we will be punished for our gluttony. If we dare to choose our career, we are condemned or villainised for perverting from the traditional path.

Why Do We Hate Powerful Women?

A woman in a position of power is daring, it’s inevitably transgressive: a woman taking control of her agency, and her voice is controversial. It all harks back to Medievalism; a woman’s worth is restrained by her man.

Of course, nowadays we live in a progressive society, a society where women can live their lives detangled from this control. Whilst as a society we have progressed, the division between men in power and women is stark and evident: according to recent data, women make up only 9% of Fortune 500’s CEOs.

I’d argue that there are still seedlings of this imagery everywhere we look: on social media for example, in the manosphere, and the red-pilled community, a woman should be seen and not heard, harking back to the Medieval ages.

The Andrew Tate’s of the world want men to believe that there is something inherently wrong with a woman owning her voice- that is why they are so critical of powerful women.

As Andrew Tate has mentioned time and time again: ‘the modern feminist movement has destroyed women’s understanding of their natural roles and desires’.  These men hate and villainise women who don’t fit their mould, they hate powerful women.

Language and Media as Oppressive Tools

In the minds of the red-pilled masses, femininity is tied with youth, beauty and docility: and powerful, strong, assertive women stand for everything they detest in a woman.

That’s why language is such a powerful thing, the same with media, it manipulates perceptions: if a woman is perceived as strong, or confident: she’s bossy or a diva. They use these words and phrases as taunts, threatening other women who dare to achieve in their right: that they will be called this if they attempt to assert their own power.

Karl Marx infamously stated: religion is the opium of the masses: but in our media-obsessed culture: media is the driving force and key manipulator of the public. That’s why there are so many portrayals of villainous women in power: the strong woman, who’s successful, but cruel and heartless, bitter, and jealous.

In the eyes of the audience, a successful woman can rarely be successful without hurting others to get where she is. It is that never-ending dichotomy of the female experience: you can either be successful at work, or successful at home- but never both.

Media Depictions of Powerful Women

Powerful or successful women have been portrayed in media since the mid-1500s: ever since Macbeth, with the conniving, transgressive figure of Lady Macbeth, powerful women are portrayed as unnatural and controversial figures.

Whenever we see a powerful woman in said films, it’s always through the eyes of their cruelty, and their grotesque nature: how removed they are from their womanhood: and this unfeminine nature is attributed to their perversion from the natural order.

A strange depiction of this dichotomy in film is in Disney’s 101 Dalmatians: Disney is no stranger to moulding gender stereotypes in their narrative and this film is a perfect demonstration of said dichotomy.

The wicked Cruella De Vil is removed from all femininity, she is malicious, cold- all-consumed with greed and power, contrasted with sweet, meek Anita: Roger’s wife. The career-driven Cruella is as grotesque as she is un-feminine.

Toxic Leaders at Work

Media demonstrates successful women and toxic women as one in the one same: characters like Miranda Priestly, paint women in power as cruel, and heartless.

The dangerous thing with media representations is that it leads to assumptions and stereotypes: based on the media depiction of powerful women, the stereotype that successful or powerful women are uncaring and toxic has followed.

In contrast, depictions of powerful and successful men in media are less critical of their actions, and behaviour. They are allowed to act brash, abrasive, and rude, because that’s the way powerful men act. It’s the adult version of ‘boys will be boys’.

If one wants to condemn successful women for the toxic behaviours they display, one must also condemn the successful men who have acted the same way for generations, with little to no media villainization.

So why do we hate powerful women?

Why does society not hold the same vitriol for successful men in the workplace?

We hate powerful women because of the assumptions and stereotypes surrounding them: we think they’re cruel, and unfeminine.

We hate them because we’re told to through the media, through language: our assumptions are moulded by what we see, by what is demonstrated to us.

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