The world is constantly split into two kinds of people. Those who wake up with the sun, and those who are the living embodiment of Sleeping Beauty — sometimes without the “Beauty” part. Those who like coriander, and those who loathe it (it tastes like soap — scientific fact).

And there are those who admire Caitlyn Jenner, and those who dislike her intensely. On the one hand, the 66-year-old represents self-acceptance to those who feel they are stigmatised by society based on their gender or sexuality. On the other, she represents excess — she is still part of the Kardashian clan, after all, and her wealth and fame make her unrelatable.

Recently, Jenner accepted an award from Glamour’s Women of the Year Awards, an event which honours women of various backgrounds. This year, awards were also given to entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes, the USA national women’s soccer team and five women from the Charleston shooting, amongst others.

While backstage at the event, Jenner told Buzzfeed: “The hardest part about being a woman is figuring out what to wear. It’s always that way; I never thought it would come to this. I had really no sense of style.”

media_camera Caitlyn Jenner with her Glamour award. (Pic: Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Glamour)

Actress Rose McGowan, who has spoken out about sexism in Hollywood, was not impressed. In a Facebook post which has since been deleted (of course), she wrote: “Caitlyn Jenner you do not understand what being a woman is about at all. You want to be a woman and stand with us — well learn us. We are more than deciding what to wear. We are more than the stereotypes foisted upon us by people like you. You’re a woman now? Well f__king learn that we have had a VERY different experience than your life of male privilege. Woman of the year? No, not until you wake up and join the fight. Being a woman comes with a lot of baggage. The weight of unequal history. You’d do well to learn it. You’d do well to wake up. Woman of the year? Not by a long f__king shot.”

What McGowan failed to take into consideration was the jesting manner in which Jenner spoke, and that she also immediately followed up her “what women wear” dilemma with: “It’s more than that. I’m kind of at this point in my life where I’m trying to figure this womanhood thing out. It is more than hair, makeup, clothes, all that kind of stuff. There’s an element here that I’m still kind of searching for. And I think that’ll take a while. Because I think as far as gender, we’re all on a journey. We’re all learning and growing about ourselves. And I feel the same way.”

Jenner should not be excluded from criticism because she is transgender — McGowan had every right to question her — but within context, McGowan’s angry post was over the top, although she raised some interesting points about how we are defined by our gender. Perhaps recognising her over-reaction, the actress posted an apology of sorts on her Facebook page.

McGowan was not the only person who took offence to Jenner. The widower of a policewoman who was killed in the September 11 attacks returned his wife’s posthumous Glamour award for heroism. According to the New York Post, he made the decision to give back the award because of Jenner’s inclusion in the awards list.

“Was there no woman in America, or the rest of the world, more deserving than this man?” he wrote to Glamour’s editor.

“At a time when we have women in the armed forces fighting and dying for our country, heroic doctors fighting deadly diseases, women police and firefighters putting their lives on the line for total strangers, brave women overcoming life threatening diseases … the list of possibilities goes on … is this the best you could do?”

It’s not the first time Jenner has been criticised about her worth — the same thing happened when she won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award this year.

The salient point here is one about courage. We easily recognise physical courage such as saving orphans from burning buildings, or ordinary people putting their lives in the line of fire.

It is far harder to recognise mental courage. In life, one of the most difficult things is to be exactly who you are and to follow that path with conviction, despite what others may say. It is especially hard if society looks down upon you.

We tell our kids to “be yourself”. And when we’re young, we think “well of course I’ll be myself, who else can I be?” We know better when we’re older. The pressure to conform, to be perceived in a certain manner is something we all are affected by.

Courage doesn’t have a barometer by which we all can live by. Without a doubt, the police officer who died in the September 11 attacks was courageous. But so is Jenner. It’s a different kind of courage, but it is courage nonetheless.