The eminently quotable Mark Steyn always has interesting things to say. In this recent interview triggered by his new book America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It, he responds to a question from Kathryn Jean Lopez:
Lopez: You also write in a list of ways we can help Muslims reform Islam — that we should “Support women’s rights — real rights, not feminist pieties — in the Muslim world.” Are American feminist lefties mature enough to do that — and work with Mark Steyn on that endeavor?
Steyn: No. The trivia of identity-group politics in America is beyond parody: Women are now so dominant at, say, U.S. law schools that feminist groups are reduced to complaining about the lack of female pipe-fitters. If this keeps up, circa 2015 NOW will be complaining that there are too few female wait staff. And circa 2020 that there are too few female prostitutes. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan women were prevented by law from feeling sunlight on their faces and the only guy who did anything about it was George W Bush. We have “honor killings” now not just in Jordan and Pakistan, but in Britain and Germany and Scandinavia. Where are the feminists on that? This is the biggest lever we have in the Muslim world — the fact that half their populations are chattels. They don’t want to be navel-pierced Britneyized slatterns but a lot of them want something other. That’s a huge opportunity.