This doesn't make it right, but I would point out that it only makes the news when it is the woman forced to move. In most cases when people make strange seat requests, they are the ones who get moved, and it's decidedly not newsworthy. (I base this assumption on UA's policies which generally prohibit moving other passengers without consent in most cases, and the fact that I've seen similar situations play out in front of me many times, always resolved amicably).

In the situation where e.g. there is a woman seated in every available row, then it would be necessary to move a woman to accommodate the request. If the GA is able to move the woman to a comparable or better seat, then I can see why it would be tempted to do it.

I know the outrage in principle, but there is also a practical element to it... The GA's job is to get the flight out on time, and if they can accommodate pax requests that would otherwise may delay the flight (offloading pax and rebooking them on a different flight is time-consuming), then I can understand that too. People get moved around every day because e.g. pax is allergic to dog or family wants to sit together. This really isn't all that different.

For a similar discussion about principle vs practicality, see Naked guy in UC bathroom washing up from a sink