Some anti-stepper talking points have value

Some anti-stepper talking points have value. 

• I agree with Monica Richardson in principle: It's a really bad thing for men to chase newcomer women in the program. But, yes, AA does have protections for women (a culture of men staying with men, women with women, and a large number of women-only meetings), but it can't protect a woman hell-bent on getting in to a relationship.
• I agree members should not play doctor and should not tell members what medications to take or not take. 
• There's an anti-intellectual streak in many meetings which rubs me wrong (and contradicts the Big Book). 
• People who say the steps are the only way to stay sober are as bad as Christian fundamentalists who say all non-Christians are damned.

I don't agree with the notion that the steps do not work, or that the Steps are just religious claptrap, and arguments along that line, and my decades of sobriety (caused by a spiritual awakening which I had while working the steps) are a testament that they worked very well with me. The only reason they don't work more is because most alcoholics don't want to work them.

But, yes, if someone can get sober without the steps (like one friend of mine who didn't need anything at all), I think that's great. AA has no monopoly on sobriety.