I read some editorial somewhere that this reminds me of. It was pointing out the backlash against The Last of Us Part II, and how the protagonist was disliked for being so violent and an awful human being, unlike the male lead in the prior game who rescues her in a violent rampage and effectively commits genocide by preventing a cure from being made. The accepted male protagonist isn’t criticised, even though he’s far more violent than the female protagonist.

People have an issue with female characters acting “like men”. Many people in the audience had zero issues with Rey. I had plenty of issues with TFA, and Rey being a “Mary Sue” doesn’t even register as one of them. I think it’s more about a cultural gender roles issue than it actually is a problem with the character and what she’s doing. Her victory at the end of the film is far less contrived or exaggerated than the victories of our other two (male) protagonists in their respective first films, and the hero’s journey is often defined by an early victory before the big defeat.

It’s because Rey is a woman. Not calling anyone actively or intentionally sexist, but every argument that’s being raised can’t really hold water—- especially when compared to Anakin and Luke.