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A lot of the time a personal essay is when a woman writes an essay that would be called an essay if a man wrote it.
Sometimes a personal essay is when a woman writes an essay that what would be called journalism if a man wrote it.
Sometimes a personal essay is when a women writes an essay that would be called a travel essay if a man wrote it.
Sometimes a personal essay is when a woman writes a piece of investigative journalism if she had been a man who wrote it.
Sometimes a personal essay is when a woman writes an essay that would be called science writing if a man wrote it.
Sometimes a personal essay is when a woman writes a piece of literary or cultural criticism had it been written by a man!
I think that almost covers it.
I think that almost covers it.
As a follow up, I might say that it is a quality used against women, that when done well means writing with some serious internal work being done in respect to whatever else that& #39;s going on in the essay. And, you know, reflection. GOOD HARD WORK.
Words besides personal to be very careful about using in response to writing by women: quiet, domestic, small, tiny. Not always wrong or bad, but often big signal when bundled together that the work is a revelation but being reduced to almost nothing anyway.
I would be curious if we can find more than a handful of examples of essay collections by men that are labeled or described in any way as "personal essays."
I can, however think of a ton of essay collections by men that would be called "personal essays" if written by women.
The Personal Essays of Montaigne 
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