The Equal Rights Amendment lives!

This feels a bit time-warpish, but Congress may try to re-pass (and then urge the states to ratify) the Equal Rights Amendment.

Oh, joy. I always get excited at the prospect of more Phyllis Schlafly (pictured) on my television.

On the one hand, why not? On the other hand, it's arguable whether such an amendment is even necessary any more, given the current culture and the fact that many states already have laws against gender discrimination.

I do think that some of the "con" arguments advanced in the article are pure scare tactics, however -- like the one that says the ERA would require abortions be legal.

I also like how Schlafly has simply updated her list of bogeymen. In the 1970s she said the ERA woud lead to women being drafted and unisex bathrooms. This time around, it will "compel courts to approve same-sex marriages and deny Social Security benefits for housewives and widows."

Okay, Phyllis. Sure.

Update: Schlafly, in an appearance at Bates College in Maine, was in full cry, calling intellectual men "liberal slobs" and saying feminism is "incompatible with marriage and motherhood." She went on to argue that women should be prohibited from working in traditionally male jobs such as firefighting or construction, thanks to their "inherent physical inferiority." But the topper was when she dismissed the whole idea of marital rape. "By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don't think you can call it rape." (H/T: The Debate Link)

politics, midtopia