I was talking to my brother yesterday, and he mentioned that Phyllis Schlafly had spoken at his school earlier. I hadn't heard of her before, but the idea of an anti-feminist, particularly one that holds regular speaking engagements instead of staying in the home, fascinated me. So, I Wikipedia'd her:
She makes me very angry. I can't stand people who are publicly hypocrites, and this is exactly what it seems like she is. She either doesn't seem to realize, or doesn't care, that the only reason she's able to be an antifeminist and say all the bullshit things that she does, is because feminists paved the way first. During the Depression, her father couldn't find work - so her mother was the breadwinner for the family. Schlafly was able to go to college, going so far as to earn her JD. Briefly, in WWII, she apparently worked as a ballistics gunner and technician at an ammunition plant. She also worked in research, with a political campaign, and even ran for Congress. None of that would have been possible without a feminist movement, so I guess she's okay with a feminist movement that allows her to achieve her goals, but not one that progresses us any further than that.
Her views totally blow my mind. She opposed the Equal Rights Amendment on the basis that it would erase the gender-specific privileges enjoyed by women. She thinks that a woman's place in the marriage is subservient to both God and men, and that the only way a happy marriage can be sustained is if the woman is willing to give the man whatever his manhood craves. The woman's role in a marriage is to support her husband through altruism and self-sacrifice, I'm assuming regardless of what the man is demanding and what the women really wants to do in life. Women, according to Schlafly, have active needs, and they need to love. A man's needs, on the other hand, are passive, and he needs to be loved, to be appreciated, etc. If that wasn't messed up enough, she also believes that once a woman marries a man, she consents to sex, and therefore spousal rape is a non-issue. Because every time the man wants sex, the woman has to put out - she's already given her eternal consent by marrying the guy.
She seems so backwards, outdated and selfish. She reminds me a lot of a whiny, over-privileged teenager, and it kind of seems as though she realize (or maybe she just doesn't care to recognize) that the only reason she's able to fight for her cause is because an earlier generation of women rebuked their gender roles - the gender roles that Schlafly thinks women should remain in - and fought for their rights. As a woman, I can't understand why another woman would want to restrict women's rights. I don't understand how she thinks that a woman's role in life is to be subservient and devote their entire life to making their husband happy. If you have a chance, check our her quotes regarding social issues, her take on the feminist stance on the social issues, and then her take on the social issues. They're kind of funny, until you realize that she's a) serious and b) voicing these opinions now, not 200 years ago.
My brother was part of a group protesting her speaking at the campus - apparently when she saw the protestors, she just smirked at them. He said that it was funny protesting against her, because she seems like such a harmless little old lady.
Another reason I'm not a fan: Her last name is ridiculous to spell, and I'm sure I misspelled it a few times here.
