“The idea seems to be that women — not all women, but most — are natural scolds, and if they don’t have children to scold, they’re going to range freely, looking for adults to scold.”
It's the nature of the beast....male or female it does not matter. The main difference is....it's called attempting to communicate, but some see it as "scolding".
Perhaps I should have been more clear, "If a woman doesn't have children or a husband to scold . . . "
There is a distinct and definitive difference between attempting to communication and scolding, "I think you need some new pants" vs "Those pants look horrible".