In my experience, quite a few "powerful" women, especially those with a strong feminist ideological grounding, have had bad experiences with stalkers, control-freaks, and other psychos. At least they seem to talk about such experiences a lot.
This naturally tends to reinforce their low opinion of men. It seems just as likely to me though that the constant barrage of hostility, suspicion, and man-bashing from these women might tend to exclude any men who are not hyper-aggressive and neurotically possessive.
An admittedly extreme example:
I didn't date for two full years after my wife died. It wasn't a limit I had set, it just took that long to start feeling like it again.
A couple I knew then set me up with my first date, and it seemed like a good one.
The woman was none other than a well-known science fiction writer whose work I liked. I got on her good side right away by taking along a couple of books for her to autograph. We hit it off very well at first, though we did argue a little, in an academic sense, about what she called "women's issues."
Then, after a couple of dates, I ran into her on campus and asked her join me for a cup of coffee. As we were sitting in the local IHOP, she started in about stalkers and other evil types. I said, almost rhetorically, "You've seen that I'm not anything like that, haven't you?"
At that point, her face changed, she started to become livid, and she almost shouted, "You better not be! I'll take you down if you try that s*** with me! I've got a gun at home, I'll blow your f***ing head off if you try it!"
*GULP*
People were staring at us, perhaps wondering what I had done to her. I suddenly remembered a pressing engagement elsewhere (anywhere in fact) and excused myself. The door didn't hit me on the way out and I never spoke to her again.
Interestingly enough, her writing career has gone down the toilet the last few years. Her navel-gazing feminist schtick has worn thin and she doesn't seem to have a replacement.
WOW, that should be in a Top Ten List of Scary Dates
Sounds like she may have a mental illness too (seriously, but I could be wrong ;) )