When different cultures interact, they influence one another in all sorts of ways. The ongoing contact between the Western liberal cultures and the Muslim cultures has done a lot to reduce the influence of Western feminism. Western men start asking such questions as, "Why do Muslim men, who are worse than us in every way that matters, have it better than we do? And why do Western women, many of whom are aggressive and contentious, have it better than Muslim women who know how to treat a man right?" These questions cannot be answered by appealing to men's self-interest. They can however be answered by appealing to their interest as parents. They should be asked such things as, "Do you want your daughter to not have rights? Do you want your daughter to be subject to heinous abuses such as sulfuric acid attacks and honor killings? Do you want your daughter to be a punching bag for some violent creep and have no way to get away?" At stake here is not the survival of Western democracies, and certainly not the survival of Christianity. At stake here is social progress that has been realized in Western democracies, that Muslim theocracies attack. With all change, there are desirable qualities and undesirable qualities, and it is important that both be seen for what they are and treated appropriately. It is desirable for women to have a life outside the home. It is desirable for women to have protections against domestic violence and against other domestic crimes such as incest. It is not desirable for women to be harpies, or to be cruel and malicious, or to attack other women's beauty and creativity while doing nothing for women who are actually being abused and treating those women as an inferior form of life. There have been directions in feminism that are worth keeping, and there have been directions in feminism that were wrongheaded. The solution is neither to embrace all that comes under banner of feminism nor to do away with feminism. The solution is to uphold the real achievements of feminism and let the dross fall away. What real achievements are these? Things that actually benefit women. Things such as women having a right to fulfilling careers outside the home and having protections against men who would batter them or rape their children inside the home. Real, genuine improvements that significantly benefit women's lives. Meanwhile the attitudes that teach women to be nasty human beings, to abuse love and beauty, and to prevail upon other women to be harpies and attack women who aren't harpies, should be eliminated. One positive thing that happens in situations such as this is that things tend to get put into perspective. The people who make mountains of molehills have their perspective corrected when a real mountain shows up on their way. There are women in America who see anything as abuse. Their perspective is corrected when they run into real severe abuses that go on without correction on a culture-wide basis. The Western and Muslim cultures have possibility of influencing each other in any number of ways, and some are better than others. An optimal solution would see the Western men influence Muslim men to be better to women and Muslim women influence Western women to be better to men. Less desirable outcomes would be Muslim men influencing Western men to be nasty to women and Western women influencing Muslim women to be nasty to men. Of course all of the above, and more, are happening all around us as we speak. A not as frequently considered positive direction is that of Western men getting together with Muslim women. That way, the parties that are willing to be good to the other gender will get together and reward each other with positive relationships, whereas the parties that are not willing to be good to the other gender will have to go without the other gender until they are willing to change their attitude. Sometimes real-world mechanisms based on rational self-interest do more to solve social injustices than social movements or government action. Global economy has been the most effective poverty reduction program in history, as it put together competent business with competent workers. And inter-cultural flux for intermarriage can be a way to significantly improve lives of both men and women - by allowing men and women who are willing to be good to each other to come together, while creating a real-world incentive on men and women who are not willing to be good to the other gender to change their ways. In such situations, the winner is always the best party. Chinese workers are the best workers in the world, and American business is the best business in the world; and both benefitted from global economy. In intercultural mixes, we will see the same thing with both the women and the men. The men who are willing to be good to women, and the women who are willing to be good to men, will emerge as winners, whereas those in both genders who are not willing to be good to the other gender will have to change their attitudes and behavior if they want to be with a person of the opposite gender. Meanwhile the real social achievements that have taken place in the West must be fiercely defended. I do not advocate cultural relativism; I advocate absolutism. I advocate stating that women's rights and free speech are absolutely better than lack of such things. I state that it is a moral imperative to defend these social accomplishments against the barbarians who want to see them destroyed. And the next step from that is to spread these social accomplishments across the Muslims' home turf. Far-fetched? Possibly; but let's put things into perspective. They started it. If they are allowed to influence us, then we most certainly have the right to influence them. And, for most part, they are the ones with the problem. Why not have something similar to the Voice of America broadcasts during the Cold War into the Middle East? Why not have strong media presence there so that thoughts do more work than bullets? Why not let more work be done by convincing rather than killing, so that what they see of America is not mass murder but better ideas at work? There is a lot that is wrong with Muslim societies, and they have influenced a lot of people in the West wrongly. Fortunately this does not have to be a one-way street. Educating the Muslims in the principles of liberty and women's rights stands to do a lot to improve life in Muslim countries. And the result will be the better ideas flourishing and reaching those who stand to benefit from them.
