Ross Douthat’s conversation for The New York Times opinion section — initially titled “Did Women Ruin the Workplace?” and quickly edited to “Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?” — has ruffled feathers of women across the Internet.
The “Interesting Times” podcast host sat down with conservative writers and feminist critics Helen Andrews and Leah Libresco Sargeant to discuss whether liberal women were ruining workplace culture with “woke” ideals like the #MeToo movement, further calling women more dependent than men.
Co-creator of “The Daily Show” Lizz Winstead criticized the article and its intention, saying it might as well have donned the headline “Bitches Ain’t Sh-t.” “This at least would be honest” she said in a video posted to Threads.
“What’s a conservative feminist, are you kidding me?” Winstead added. “That’s like the jumbo shrimp of emancipation.”
The women of Vanity Fair also responded to the article by exposing internal workplace instant messages shared in a Slack channel amongst themselves. They “found Douthat’s question to be hysterical, in the funny and shrieking-female senses” and debated the question amongst themselves.
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“Frankly, I’m offended by this headline. I worked very hard to ruin the workplace all by myself, and other women should not be getting credit for my work,” Vanity Fair’s Hillary Busis joked. “Having skimmed the article, I feel confident saying that if you’re a woman, you’re allowed to cyberbully Ross Douthat.”
“I’m sure many women did ruin many workplaces. I have worked with some who have!” Lindsey Underwood shared. “I’m sure Ross and his friends had a robust discussion, which I’m not going to listen to (because I have a full day of fun ruining my own workplace ahead of me, and I cannot be slowed down), but however you phrase it, the premise is ridiculous.”
“My main thought is: How low is Ross Douthat’s readership that he needs to pull this desperado s–t?” Elise Taylor added. “Tell me your column hasn’t been getting any clicks without telling me your column hasn’t been getting any clicks.”
Reactions flooded on social media with feminists criticizing the New York Times for publishing a piece that alienates a portion of its readership. See for yourself, below:
Ah yes, those evil women who had the audacity to want equal rights, pay and for men to not be creepy at work. Seriously, fuck the New York Times. pic.twitter.com/4shmW5XuWI
— Sarah Ironside 💙 (@SarahIronside6) November 7, 2025
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If demanding equal pay and expecting sexual harassment to be punished is a problem, then ladies to paraphrase Taylor, my advice is always RUIN THE WORKPLACE. Better that than regret it. For all time. pic.twitter.com/ontTnqFCwJ
— Morgan Meneses-Sheets (@morgmeneshets) November 7, 2025
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