One of the things about liberal feminism is that it's bad for the reasons people say it is but also because it necessarily must remain hostage to anti-feminism, a theme explored in 30 Rock, actually.

Jack answers Liz's objections to the TV show "MILF Island" (which he green lit because it was dramatic & inappropriate and therefore popular and therefore lucrative) by saying of a contestant who was formerly a prostitute: "That doesn't mean she's not a wonderful, caring MILF."

It's funny because Jack is the capitalist bad boy, but at least he genuinely doesn't care who you are if you have money, while Lemon pretends to be part of "the people" only to have really puritanical judgments come down the pike from time to time, & *especially* concerning sex.

Lemon's brand of feminism can't be liberating for women other than just a minority bc Jack can very easily point out that while Lemon can rattle off the talking points of the Women's March, she still kinda thinks trans people are gross, and sex work is inherently exploitative.

Or that it makes you bad.

Her inability to imagine outside of binary constructs or indoctrinated societal values impedes her abilities as an ally, & for that matter, there's no reason Jack would or *should* listen to her high-roading sermons in good faith while witnessing hypocrisies this egregious.

So Jack exploits everyone equally and acknowledges that's what he's doing, while Lemon wants to be "a good person" but it's actually her who would feel uncomfortable in the presence of either a rich trans person or a poor sex worker who had a really great invention, not him.

And that's why Lemon's feminism can't save, because Jack can always remind her that what he wants has more in common with what Lemon wants than what the trans person or sex worker wants, and the worst part is that he's right.

So who stands up for those people when their options are people who actively want to exploit them and people who won't stop those people?

Despite feeling like a "good person," bc of these prejudices, Lemon actually enables the system they come from and denies opportunity.

And at least when Jack exploits people, they get something out if it, because remember, he's a big fan of exchanging things of value for other things of value.

He wants things and you want different things, so you can trade.

What he's *not* gonna do, unlike Lemon, is pretend whatever mediocre level of token activism, blackout Tuesdays, or tacit LGBT support (which Lemon will privately undercut with other Jacks bc she's ashamed of the people she feels it's politically correct to defend) justifies it.

He's not going to use human beings as grist for his fantasies of being "a good person," but Liz Lemon will, and by the end of it will *still* feel that that's true.

That's why liberal feminism can't carry the day — it's simply insufficient to deal with the business of actual liberation. It can speak, advocate, and draw attention, but Susan B. Anthony helped white women vote, not everyone else.

Like, "Sure, I'm a feminist, but I don't understand why you take the photos if you don't want them out in the world"

or

"You're being exploited by men even if YOU say that's not true (curiously, I have never been exploited by an employer or government in the jobs I've chosen)"

Sure you "respect" sex workers but when the chips are down, you think it's a gotcha to ask if someone would be mad if their kid (read: daughter) was a pornstar, bc *you* think it's bad, & the reason you think that ain't based on nothing objective, but subjective cultural values.

Society gives us all values & judgments about certain kinds of people, but this is the moment where you're actively choosing to keep those values, even though they're not yours and you don't have to, but Lemon resolves this conflict by pretending she got it from herself.

So Lemon thinks all this bad stuff but bc she has an almost religious dedication to being thought well of, the answer cannot be that she just thinks this stuff & wants to keep thinking it bc changing how you think is hard, & that she's willing to sacrifice others to avoid it.

So she'll wrap it up in whatever nonsense she needs to to 1) Feel better, and 2) Placate others, neither of which is a sincere belief in her political principles, and neither of which is what should be the goal — doing things to help.

There are a lot of liberal feminists who may have been inspired Billie Jean King beating Bobby Riggs or thought "You go, girl" to Allison Janney on The West Wing, but don't like trans people, don't respect sex workers, & aren't interested in a world where they have more power.

Jack knows this.

He's not interested in that world, either.

Which is exactly what makes Lemon *his* ally, not theirs.