Is it sexist to ask Hillary Clinton to smile more?

After winning so many states Tuesday night in the ‘Last Chance Tuesday’ primaries, presumptive Democratic nominee for President Hillary Clinton delivered a speech that mostly lacked even a hint that she was happy with the results. She seemed angry and was yelling while telling the country they should be ready for her as president. Folks took notice.

Smile. You just had a big night. #PrimaryDay

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 16, 2016

Hillary having a big night in the primaries. So she's shouting angrily in her victory speech. Supporters loving it. What's she mad at?

— Brit Hume (@brithume) March 16, 2016

Getting attacked for saying Hillary shouted. Was not saying she was shrill. I've just heard her deliver more effective speeches

— HowardKurtz (@HowardKurtz) March 16, 2016

But others took notice of the criticism, immediately claiming any mention of her lack of a smile was a sexist attack by “bros” out to unfairly criticize a female candidate.

Bro news anchor tells Hillary Clinton to “smile” because it's her night https://t.co/jXJdhdlQuL pic.twitter.com/qHmsQkX4UI

— Mashable (@mashable) March 16, 2016

You know what a great look is — male reporters complaining Hillary is shouting. #awarenessmuch

— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) March 16, 2016

Mashable’s Chloe Bryan said, “At this point, men have to know better than to tell a woman to smile.”

She’s right. But I’ll go one step further: men, at this point, have to know better than to criticize anything Clinton does; when you do, you’ll fall victim to a strategy to silence opposition.

Calling Carly Fiorina “demented” or mocking Chris Christie’s weight is fair-game, but noticing a candidate isn’t happy when she should be? Oh man, you just committed a microaggression and we must publicly shame you!

In an effort to protect a beatable candidate, feminist activists and the Clinton campaign will claim any and all criticism of her is sexist. They do this because they want to intimidate you into silence; they want you to think twice about criticizing her for fear you’ll be labeled a sexist. Sexism, to these activists, is now a tool to silence opposition. Unless, of course, they feel a female candidate isn’t capable of standing up to criticism (that seems rather sexist to me).