First, a show recommendation
The 2020 Hulu docuseries Mrs. America is set in 1970s America. Second wave feminism was in full swing with leaders like Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug, and Jill Ruckelshaus, advocating for things like being able to go to work without being sexually harassed and to be paid fairly. And rich white catholic women were pissed. The main (protagonist…? antagonist…?) character is lifelong republican, devout catholic, and communism hating, Phyllis Schlafly. Phyllis Schlafly was the wife of Fred Schlafly, prominent lawyer, GOP donor, and respected member of the republican party. Phyllis was highly educated. She received her degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and Radcliffe College (Havard’s sister school, as they did not allow women to attend Harvard at this time). She also earned a Juris Doctor degree from Washington University in St. Louis and took the bar exam to become a lawyer like her husband. Also like her husband Phyllis was passionate about politics which inspired her to run for public office in 1952, 1960, and 1970. Unlike her husband she was never respected in the party and therefore lost to a man every time, do I need to remind you this is 1970s America? Being rich and white could only get you so far when you’re a woman competing against men that are also rich and white.
What did Phyllis Schlafly stand for?
Phyllis Schlafly finally gains some respect within politics but it isn’t when she is discussing nuclear treaties (which is her expertise as she was a ballistics technician). The reason Phyllis Schlafly gained notoriety when she spoke against the Equal Rights Amendment. Phyllis Schlafly appealed to other rich, white, and traditional women whose biggest fears were the feminists burning their bras, killing babies, forcing women to get jobs, abandon their families, and be lesbians. Phyllis Schlafly went on a national tour telling people to pressure their representatives to vote no to the ERA because women belong at home with their families not at a job!
So Phyllis Schlafly ran a “grassroots” national campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment with the belief that women should be working in their homes with their families, again while she was running a national campaign…outside of her home and away from her family. Am I being heavy enough on the irony of the situation. It’s sometimes hard to pinpoint exactly what conservative women are fighting for. I understand what the conservative men gain from having a mother- I mean maid- I mean wife. Conservative women like Schlafly want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to be the perfectly perfect woman to the men in their life but there’s a power struggle that often gets projected onto other women instead of the root of the problem- patriarchy. Conservative women want to be in the boys club sooo bad. They will throw their own autonomy away to become more palatable to the traditional American manly man. The Hulu docuseries Mrs. America illustrates these traditional ideals and the boys club perfectly. Mrs. America on Hulu is a great introduction to second wave feminism and with the star-studded cast it is well worth your time. His show highlights the hot topics of the 70s and with the civil rights amendment less than a decade old this docuseries also does a good job of highlighting the black female experience.
More than that, this series highlights Phyllis Schlafly as the first Girlboss (derogatory), at least in my opinion. Let’s make a checklist to factcheck:
1.Hypocritical: ✅
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- Ran a national campaign saying women belong at home with their families while working and being away from her family
2. Sells out other women for her own personal gain: ✅
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- Constantly smeared second wave feminism while secretly being and acting like a feminist.
3. Appeals to the boys club: ✅
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- Phyllis Schlafly is the ultimate pick me- most of her views centered from traditional gender roles and the attitude that women must serve their husbands and families which gained her a lot of clout with republican men (including her husband). Within her commitment to the boys club she also constantly undersold her own intelligence. This is a good time for a disclaimer: I think that Phyllis Schlafly was very smart, I don’t think Harvard gives degrees to just anyone. Phyllis Schlafly and other anti-feminist women know exactly what they’re doing.
Finally, we would not have women like Candace Owens, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Susan Collins, Sarah Palin, Tomi Lahren, Ann Coulter, and more (I could go on but I started to feel sick at all the names that came to me without thinking too hard). The impact of these women is not isolated either. South Korea has an ever-growing anti-feminist movement run by men and women. These actions, words, and beliefs, have real life and detrimental consequences on the underprivileged.
Rallying behind men like Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh to toe the party line does nothing to improve equality within women, but it does give these women the false sense that they are in the boys club. Spoiler alert: they aren’t and they never will. Men who act like Trump and Kavanaugh would not (and have not) hesitate to treat these women like any other women on the other side of the political aisle.
So why do they do it?
I have no idea. I’m just an angry 21 with a blog that has 10 weekly readers. But as a past pick-me girl I have to slightly empathize because male validation feels really good and men are good at making the boys club feel genuine. However, unlike me these women never learned that girl code is stronger than male approval, and now millions of underprivileged women don’t have access to bodily autonomy, safety in the workplace, or fair wages.
Happy women’s history month.
