oh phyllis...

believe it or not, i have some sympathy for phyllis schlafly. i said, some. she's really internalized a lot of the bull shit and finds herself spewing it something awful every once in awhile... most recently at Bates College. But hey, it starts people talking... or blogging. Here are some highlights from her presentation:

"She belittled the feminist movement as 'teaching women to be victims,' decried intellectual men as 'liberal slobs' and argued that feminism 'is incompatible with marriage and motherhood.'
...
One [disappointment] came when Schlafly asserted women should not be permitted to do jobs traditionally held by men, such as firefighter, soldier or construction worker, because of their 'inherent physical inferiority.'

'Women in combat are a hazard to other people around them,' she said. 'They aren't tall enough to see out of the trucks, they're not strong enough to carry their buddy off the battlefield if he's wounded, and they can't bark out orders loudly enough for everyone to hear.'

At one point, Schlafly also contended that married women cannot be sexually assaulted by their husbands.

'By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don't think you can call it rape,' she said."

Ahhh! I need a beer. If it weren't so early in the morning, I'd go down the street to the Schlalfy Brewery here in St. Louis (her hometown). The beer company's President and Founder is Phyllis's nephew, Tom Schlafly... she, thankfully, isn't involved with the business. Incidentally, he recently published a book called A New Religion in Mecca - about beer and his brewery.

Sorry for that digression, back to my sympathy... it was Phyllis (among others) who fought so hard against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 70s & early 80s. Her website on the topic states that:

"The Equal Rights Amendment was presented to the American public as something that would benefit women, "put women in the U.S. Constitution," and lift women out of their so-called "second-class citizenship." However, in thousands of debates, the ERA advocates were unable to show any way that ERA would benefit women or end any discrimination against them. The fact is that women already enjoy every constitutional right that men enjoy and have enjoyed equal employment opportunity since 1964."

yeah. right. like getting raped in their own homes or while in the military that they shouldn't be in anyway. uh huh.

So, in a lovely coincidence, there is buzz that we're going to be seeing a renewed fight for the ERA again... this time under its new name WEA (Women's Equality Amendment). This is not the first time it has been reintroduced but maybe, just maybe, it will be the last time it has to be. It has been introduced in five states since January and has several federal and state lawmakers behind it.

Last time around only three needed states didn't ratify it. It needed 38 states and got 35. I've been reading that the 35 states would still stand, and the amendment would still only need three states. I've got people in five of the unratified states that I can call up - what about you?