Russian Women and Western Feminism

Russian women are widely regarded as some of the most attractive women in the world. They are not only attractive physically; they are also attractive personally. By and large, they are gentle, kind-natured and family-oriented.

Then they marry Russian men. Many of these men are violent, drunk and abusive and think that they owe it to their gender to beat women down. The women's beauty and gentleness cannot survive in such conditions. They become strong; they also become spiteful and authoritarian. They viciously mistreat their daughters and younger women and direct their understandable negativity into hatred against rich people, or against Americans, or against people from the Republic of Georgia, or against the Jews.

This leads to ugliness and waste all around; and for this reason Russians have a well-earned reputation for destructiveness.

I have aggressively dissented from this way of doing things since I first saw it expressed in my neighbors when I was a child. That does not mean however that I embrace the American third-wave feminism. The reasons for this is that this form of feminism has:

Maliciously attacked love and beauty as well as artwork expressing of the preceding;

Taught women to avoid child-rearing and family life;

Influenced women who listened to it to become hateful to anything male and most of what is female;

And waged witch hunts against whole sections of the population, claiming wrongfully – and in violation of all reason – that these people are evil and can only be evil whatever they do, however hard they work, and whatever work they do on themselves.

That does not mean however that I reject women's rights and women's empowerment. There are three reasons for this.

First, anything with a brain is capable of intelligence, and women can – and should – be able to contribute to the economy, the government, the media and the culture as well as the best of men.

Second, women tend to be by nature kinder and more compassionate than men, and these values deserve to count in society.

And finally, I have a highly intelligent daughter, and I want her to have a better future than scrubbing floors for some violent creep.

I oppose misogyny; I also oppose misandry. Both are wrong. And the toxic dynamic that we have seen by both misogynists and misandrists has been an attempt to claim to speak for their genders and influence the rest of their genders – even the better-natured ones – into being the worst thing that they can be and treat the other gender in the worst way that they conceivably can. Misogynistic men teach other men that they owe it to their gender to keep women down. And misandrist females teach other women likewise that they owe it to their gender to treat men – and nicer, prettier women - viciously.

In both cases, we have seen the worst in each gender attempting to monopolize their gender and speak for their gender. And in both cases, all sorts of good people have suffered terribly as a result. The misandrists have been powerless against real abusers such as the Islamists, the gangsters and the Nascar Republicans; instead they have attacked the men who are most inclined to have good will toward women – particularly men closest to the liberal centers of learning and culture, who by and large are socially liberal and believe in women's rights. And the misogynists have been powerless against the world's Andrea Dworkins and Catherine McKinnons, instead concentrating their ire on the women who like men enough to want to be with men. On both sides, what we are seeing is blind bullying against people who have done nothing to cause either problem. And in both cases, the worst have been dictating the terms to their genders while their betters – both women and men - have been suffering.

This has likewise lead to waste and ugliness all across the board.

I believe it is time that better men speak for the male gender and influence the rest of their gender toward wiser, nobler, more principled conduct. And I believe it is time that better women likewise speak for their gender and influence it toward better behavior toward men. Muslim, Russian and African men stand to learn a lot from Swedish, American, Jewish and liberal men. And women raised with feminism stand to learn a lot from kind, loving, family-oriented women.

What do I really want? I want men and women to get along. I want good behavior on the part of both rewarded, and I want bad behavior on the part of both disincentivized. I want women to be good to men, and I want men to be good to women. In this matter I lead by example. I have maintained a good relationship with the mother of my daughter, even though she left me to be with another man.

The world benefits when the genders are taught – and represented – by the people of good will rather than the people of ill will. Such people prevail on their genders to be their best rather than their worst. The result is a better life for everyone.

Eminem and Bin Laden do not deserve to speak for men, and Catherine McKinnon does not deserve to speak for women. All of the above embody the worst in their genders, and their effects on their genders are absolutely poisonous. More men should look up to men who are good to their wives and not to wife-beaters and misogynists. And more women should look up to women who are good to their husbands and not to women who are abusive, misandrist and mean-spirited.The result will be better men; better women; and better world.