Hate to be the guy that nitpicks on your example but slavery existed as an answer to the nonexistant labor market for a product (cotton) that was pretty much a big headache to harvest (can't harvest when it rains blah blah blah). Sure slavery was abolished after a civil war but it wasn't long till they implemented something similar afterwards (sharecropping) and manipulated the terms of the practice from crop shareing into actually crop waging.

If blacks were educated back then, sure, we may have "lost ideas". But they were not. They were still a commodity that has just finally received some form of a human right status.

In any case, America wasn't that bad of a nation. It was a system that incentivizes innovation. Something that India and China (back in the day) could not pull off due to corruption or the emperor's tyranny. Culture of lacking incentives. But sure we could technically relate it to blacks but understand that the blacks brought over weren't of "high-end" stock in the first place. They were already slaves bought from African warlords.

Okay, I stopped being that guy. Yes, feminism did help free up women so that they could contribute to the sciences and what not. Sure I see how a woman's breakthrough in something benefitting both genders as a whole. But men are making breakthroughs as well.

Now to answer your question at the very basic level. No, by one reason being competition.

We could remove subsidies on American businesses and remove the tariffs placed on foreign competitors who produce at a cheaper cost and you can ask the Americans if Globalization made things better for Americans. Yes, there are definitely benefits to global trade such as avoiding war and so on. But it comes with the loss of jobs.

I think the biggest cost of feminism is when the toughest of feminists rally traditional women to support their cause. If you want to be a hardcore feminist, then fine but be willing to backup your words if someone decides to mug you.

Telling a traditional woman to be tough and equal to the man when she is unable to back up on her words (due to chemical balances or whatever) will just lead to sassy women who flee at true danger and dudes who are just confused as to who's to take responsibility for when shit hits the fan.

At the end of the day, I support Feminism as a Redpiller but it's mainly because I do believe that competition brings out the best in all of us. The goal is not to complain about new obstacles but for men to challenge them and try to preserve their dominance.