While I think that makes sense, I also think it doesn't seem that much to me like "a sense of superiority over other women". Like... She's kinda right, no? Darcy is kind of disdainful of people who want his approval, because they must be after his money or something. See also, Wickham, who is not a woman, IIRC.

Lizzie kinda hates his guts at this point no? So she can't possibly be after his money, which means that... He can trust her opinions to have something other than greed behind them. Most of Lizzie's experiences re:"people who want Darcy's approval" is women, the shit with Wickham happened off-screen in the backstory, so that's kind of the whole sample she's working with.

Also, sidenote, I get that a lot of people have the "not like other girls" thing going on as a function of blindness to the depth and personhood of the women around them. And that is indeed bad. However, I find it frustrating that the vilification of internalized misogyny and the dehumanization of gender-conforming women seems to be coming at the expense of acknowledging like... the legit isolation that GNC women, gifted women, and women who are otherwise standing apart from the norm tend to experience.

Like, Lizzie is very different from most of the girls and women around her, she has a stronger relationship with her father than her sisters seem to, she is less interested in marriage and social maneuvering, she is out of step with her society and what it expects of her. And... When men are like that, that's kind of a good thing, no? Like, Hiccup in How To Train Your Dragon is not like the men around him, nor is Hamilton in Hamilton, nor is Captain America. It's a very standard male protagonist thing.

Shouldn't it be okay for a female character to also... just be different? And have enough observational skills and introspection to know it and remark on it?

I get that when male protagonists are different, that's a source of insecurity they must overcome, and when female protagonists are different, that's a source of pride, because of the relative standings the two cohorts have in a sexist society. But that's not going to change if we just... Decide to hold in disdain any female character who is different from other people along some notable axis and is aware of it.