You're so welcome, Caroline. This trend probably started because women were historically excluded from writing about many topics open to men and personal essays were among the few genres magazines and newspapers would buy from them.

But women are still engaging in what Stephenson calls "self-exploitation" now that they have more freedom to write about topics once closed to them. And I suspect it's because of the persistence of double standard she mentions: self-exploitation is still what society expects and rewards them for.

It's a complex topic, because women need to support themselves--whether by selling books or essays--just as men do. But it raises chicken-and-egg issues of what comes first: women's desire to write about certain issues or the knowledge that it's the way they can make money. I've thought of writing more about this if I can untangle the threads, and your comment may encourage me to try. Thank you!