The Real Story of Mrs. America
By the Editorial Board
The newly released miniseries on Hulu, Mrs. America revives the 1970s conservative women’s movement that halted the passing of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The miniseries depicts the fight between feminist leaders Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, and antifeminist leader, Phyllis Schlafly. Although the compelling miniseries is well-produced, Blanchett’s portrayal of Schlafly is convincing, and the script is brilliantly written, the series, unfortunately, fails to put aside liberal Hollywood bias. The miniseries portrays a revisionist history that unfavorably paints Schlafly, and the conservative women’s movement, by portraying the opposition to the feminist movement as a machiavellian effort to reinforce America’s patriarchy. The miniseries portrays Friedan and Steinem as heroes while depicting Schlafly’s convictions as riddled with misinformation and guided with prejudice. Despite the series’s shortcomings to do justice to Schlafly and the conservative cause, the series brings to light a transformative era in American history. This is the story of an empowered woman who ignited the conservative revolution by resisting the powerful political machine of the Left. A woman who spoke truth to power, and changed Americans’ lives.
Phyllis Schlafly first became a prominent, conservative activist during the Goldwater campaign, as a virulent anti-communist and right-wing populist. In the 1970s, she became involved in the women’s movement when feminists began campaigning around the ERA. Schlafly first opposed the ERA because of what she perceived as government overreach but then became entrenched in confronting the feminist movement that gave life to the amendment. Schlafly identified the feminist movement as a crusade against men, housewives, and Christian values, intending to erase gender, squander the “moral majority,” reorient American society and popularize socialism.
In the 1970s, Second-Wave Feminism— spearheaded by Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem— was at the forefront of American culture. The movement sought to legislate egalitarianism, legalize and destigmatize abortion, encourage alternatives to marriage and motherhood, and dismantle the patriarchy. The ERA was the physical manifestation of the Second-Wave Feminist Movement. However, the legislation not only cements feminist values into law but injects federal authority into American lives. Deceptively titled “Equal Rights”— the same euphemistic tactic that labels abortion as “Reproductive Rights”— the amendment is about more than basic equality. Because the Pay Act of 1963 made wage discrimination illegal, this amendment isn’t about economic justice. Instead of “equal opportunity,” feminists looked to instill “equal outcome,” a dangerous notion that Schlafly argued would irreparably change the fabric of American society.
Phyllis Schlafly’s organization, the Eagle Forum, documented Schlafly’s stances on ERA. According to her organization, Schlafly contended that the ERA would erase gender-based protections for women by making America a sex-neutral society. “The vague, poorly written language of the ERA does not allow any distinction to be made between men and women– even when it makes sense to do so based on their biological differences.” She argued that the amendment would ensure unequivocal, unrestricted, and tax-payer funded abortion in all 50 states. “The ERA would be used to overturn all restrictions on abortion (including the partial-birth abortion ban, 3rd-trimester abortion ban, and parental notice of minors seeking an abortion). The ERA would be used to mandate taxpayer funding of elective Medicaid abortions.” In addition, she believed that the ERA would fundamentally grant the government unlimited power to enforce these measures. Section 2 of the ERA clearly states that “the Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” Although feminists insisted that the ERA empowered women, conservatives foresaw the amendment as a dangerous step towards a sex-neutral society, governed by progressives, with an even larger government presence. A society that Phyllis Schlafly was hell-bent on never allowing to become a reality.
However, Schlafly’s triumphant movement to stop the ERA and her advocacy of conservative principles were overwhelmingly vilified in Mrs. America. While some TV shows take some creative liberties for creating tension or drama, Phyllis Schlafly was blatantly misportrayed. The author of Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism, Donald T. Critchlow, criticized the series portrayal of Schlafly as inaccurate and inconsistent with Schlafly’s character, core beliefs, relationships, and motivations. While being interviewed for The Federalist, Critchlow took issue with “the mischaracterization of Phyllis Schlafly’s family life and marital relations.” In addition, he stated “that it really doesn’t capture at all why Phyllis Schlafly was a hero to many conservative women, nor does it try to explain conservative women reacting against ERA.” Critchlow chalks up the erroneous portrayal of Schlafly to a common trend in American culture: the Left’s inability to understand and reconcile conservatism. When explaining this phenomenon, he stated “They [the Left] just have a hard time understanding people like Phyllis Schlafly, a woman who was devoted to her country and to the conservative cause and to founding principles, and devoted to her family.”
Phyllis Schlafly and the conservative women’s movement exposes the hypocrisy that has corrupted the feminist movement since her rise to fame. Feminism, in its creed, is a movement to empower women, but time and time again feminists tear down women who challenge the Left’s agenda. Schlafly was an educated, empowered woman, but was maligned, criticized, and threatened by the same feminists who championed uplifting women’s voices. According to the New York Times, in a 1973 debate, Betty Friedan told Schlafly “I consider you a traitor to your sex, an Aunt Tom,” and then proceeded to say “I’d like to burn you at the stake, as far as that is concerned.” Throughout her life, and even after her death in 2016, the media not only vilified her cause but her character. A recent article in The Atlantic stated “too toxic for a plum Cabinet post… too early for a prime-time cable-news show… From dirty tricks to media manipulation, brazen lies about crowd sizes to the weaponization of privilege, her ghost is everywhere, and it may never be banished.” This sort of vicious criticism is representative of the greatest sexism conservative women face in America: from the feminists. This phenomenon started with Schlafly and continues to be relevant today. In 2016, Hillary Clinton claimed women who voted Republican did so because of a sort of “ongoing pressure to vote the way that your husband, your boss, your son, whoever believes you should.” Conservative women, time and time again, have been reduced to misguided women controlled by the men— an insulting and ignorant notion.
Conservative women are indebted to Phyllis Schlafly for the work she did, the animosity she faced, and the challenges she overcame. Her bravery in advancing a cause against the powerful political machine of the Left is a feat no conservative, or any woman should soon forget.
Photo via All That’s Interesting
