Rather that than the Islamic idea of what a woman's place is in society. Western cultural norms may not be perfect, but you name me ONE society on this earth where women are treated as equals more than the west?

This may be true, but it's really a strawman argument anyway. "We're better than the competition, therefore, we're exempt from judgment"? Besides, I think you're missing his point. Your example of Islam proves that people simply see things the way they want to see them. These rules aren't inherent. They're prescribed. That's obvious considering they differ in different parts of the world. They differ in the same parts of the world in different times. Yet it's still met with a shrug and a, "Well, this is the way it is, and I can't conceive of anything different, and I don't want to try, and at any rate, it's still better than what they do over there." Which, again, is the same kind of attitude that's held together every type of institution that we now consider to be barbaric: slavery, racism, sexism, classism. These people are just too different. They can't hope to do the same things we do. And besides, we like things the way they are. They're comfortable. So even though we've mostly done away with the concept of a ruling type of person, it still manifests itself both ways. "Oh, well, a man wouldn't want to do this." "A woman wouldn't want to do this." "A man can't possibly understand this." "A woman's not capable of this." When you're constantly bombarded by those kinds of judgments, it does affect how you see what you're capable of. "Oh, well, I shouldn't be a costumer. That's a girl's job, and my dad's pushing me to play football, and my friends would make fun of me." "Oh, well, I want to be a mechanic, but it's not ladylike, and I have to be pretty."