Was Phyllis Schlafly a Feminist?
Defining Feminism
Our original piece this week tackles the question of what it means to be a feminist. Phyllis Schlafly notoriously campaigned against the ERA and lambasted liberal and radical feminists. Yet philosophy Holly Lawford-Smith asks, should Schlafly herself be considered a feminist?
Fairer Disputations
Was Phyllis Schlafly a Feminist?
HOLLY LAWFORD-SMITH
Feminism has been marked by internal criticism since its inception. In her history of American radical feminism, Daring To Be Bad, Alice Echols writes of the criticism directed against “politicos” (feminist women who prioritize the left, and in particular anti-capitalism), and married women. More generally, radical feminists criticize liberal feminists, intersectional feminists criticize radical feminists, gender-critical feminists criticize intersectional feminists, and most recently (and of most relevance to Fairer Disputations) “sex-realist feminists” criticize gender-critical feminists—not to mention all of the others. Every type of feminist thinks the others are getting things wrong. Criticizing feminists is no barrier to being a feminist.
This Week's Links:
First off, we have an important piece of investigative reporting from Kathleen Stock. The infamous Tavistock Clinic's Gender Identity and Development Service (Gids), the main source of "gender services" for England's youth, shut down last July. But will its successor prove a real improvement?
Note: this piece is paywalled, but worth it!
UnHerd
Inside Britain's New Trans Clinics
KATHLEEN STOCK
In effect — thanks to the collapse of the old service and to delays within the new ones — a void has opened up in the systems supposed to care for gender dysphoric young people. And until it is filled, a cohort of highly distressed children and their desperate parents will continue to pay the price.
Next, Gillian Richards reviews Peachy Keenan's provocative new book, Domestic Extremist. Although "her main piece of advice is surely right," Keenan "narrowly targets women," making feminism "the primary culprit" for today's cultural decline. Because Keenan fails to recognize deeper issues at play, her positive recommendations for changing the culture fall short.
Looking for a more nuanced story? Check out featured author Angela Franks's recent piece in First Things.
Law & Liberty
A Domestic Activist Makes Her Case
GILLIAN RICHARDS
Women didn’t enter the workforce simply because they were aspiring “girl bosses,” or because other girl bosses told them to do so. As a matter of fact, the “pantsuited girl boss” is its own stereotype. It surely fails to capture the complexity of women who have obtained such positions. What’s more, two-parent, two-income families from middle- and upper-class backgrounds are often the most stable families in the country.
Keenan doesn’t seem to account for this complexity in tracing all modern shifts back to “feminism.” In doing so, her solution appears too simplistic. Domestic extremists must account for the full picture—rather than just part of it—if they want to alleviate the tension women face between work and home.
Finally, Alexandra DeSanctis discusses Britney Spears's abortion, in conversation with long-time interlocutor Jill Filipovic. DeSanctis asks: is the totalizing desire to make choices that control our fate an implicit acceptance of the myth of the "unencumbered self"?
Countercultured
Abortion Doesn't Control the Future
ALEXANDRA DESANCTIS
This returns us to Timberlake, a stand-in for the millions of far less famous won’t-be fathers over the decades who have flaked out on fatherhood and left mother and child alone. It’s telling that Spears chose abortion, despite having immense financial resources most mothers could only dream of. If her account is to be believed, she made that choice primarily because Timberlake was unhappy about being a father. If even a woman as successful and well-positioned as Spears wasn’t immune to that pressure, how much more must the average woman struggle to choose life in the face of coercion?
TODAY: A Can't-Miss Event:
If you're local to the Abigail Adams Institute in Cambridge, MA (our mother organization), please join us for this panel at Harvard this afternoon. RSVP here.
Pre-read Wollstonecraft here and here.
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