This discussion encouraged me to go look for diversity on gender representation and I found a good article talking about some things related:
As a feminist, how do you feel about how women are portrayed in anime and manga?.
I recommend the reading, It has a lot of good mentions.
Ugh. The more time passes, the more I hate that Friedman woman.
Phew, I'm not the only one who 'hate' her
She summed up her opinions and arguments + many other's perfectly by going "AUUUGGHHHHH" because that's the only thing she can manage.
My problems with her are:
1) She habitually lets ideological preconceptions get in the way of being an effective reader of manga. (Not that I oppose her general ideological leanings—rather the contrary—but in at least three cases I can recall she panned series on grounds that, going by the overt content of the texts, were simply false.)
2) Those ideological tendencies lead her to make broad, usually negative, generalizations that often don’t hold up (as the replies to that thread demonstrate). Hey, if people want to spout off their opinions, that’s what blogs and comment threads are for, so fine. But she uses a surgeon’s scalpel when making distinctions to defend the things she likes and a sledgehammer for arguing against things she doesn’t.