Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Polite and Sophisticated
The (sad) fact is that there weren't any women writing philosophical books about the goodness of women during Christine de Pizan's time. So she had to make sure that her readers took her seriously.
That's one of the reasons why she writes with a lot of style and flourish, because she'll have to impress if she plans on getting any reader (male or female) to listen to her for long.
When she first criticizes Mathéolus' negative views on women, de Pizan writes,
Because the subject seemed to me not very pleasant for people who do not enjoy lies, and of no use in developing virtue or manners, given its lack of integrity in diction and theme, and after browsing here and there and reading the end, I put it down in order to turn my attention to more elevated and useful study. (1.1.1)
As you can see, de Pizan's choice to turn to "more elevated and useful study" shows her desire to take the high ground and to argue for women's goodness on the basis of reason and justice, not because she has an axe to grind like this Mathéolus does. All in all, the tone is effective. We're still talking about de Pizan today, and no one cares a lick what Mathéolus wrote.