John Stuart Mill was a great English intellectual who wrote, among other things, a brilliant and passionate essay in favor of women's rights. The idealistic intellectuals in the John Stuart Mill mode have formed one of the most powerful forces for feminism in the world. At this time feminism risks losing the John Stuart Mill constituency. The reason is the feminists' behavior. When women behave in vicious and ugly ways, that alienates people who come from the position of wanting things to be fair or wanting things to be kind or not wanting people to be mistreated. These people were in support of women's rights because they saw men being ugly to women while women treated men well. And a person operating from the position of what is fair or what is righteous will always support the people who are kind rather than ones who are nasty. This means that when women become nasty themselves, they lose the support of people who come from idealistic considerations. Why really should anyone who is interested in making a better world support Third Wave feminists? They are mean. They are cruel. They are arrogant and vicious. They think they are strong, independent women? Let them fight their own battles themselves. Do not enlist in it men whom they would ridiculously describe as misogynists or wolves in sheep's clothing or any other thing that they are not. It makes absolutely no sense to support one gender against the other gender. What makes sense is to support good behavior in both genders and oppose bad behavior in both. From the rational standpoint, anyone capable of choice can be good or bad. So it makes no sense to side either with women against men or with men against women. It makes sense to side with women and men who are willing to behave rightfully. An intellectual idealist would therefore be far more likely to adopt this stance. At the time of John Stuart Mill, the vast majority of wrongdoing was being done by men. This is no longer the case. There are plenty of women doing ugly things, both to men and to other women. In my case, I've had many women I care about mistreated by other women. Which means that caring about them and loving them means confronting the forces that treat them viciously, whatever their gender. So I would like to see people of intellectual bent recognize this reality. Anything human is capable of choice, and anything capable of choice can be good or bad. Do not support women because they are women; support good women and good men. And then put into place social incentives that actually lead to the world becoming better.
