Pierre Moglen

Feminism Essay
5/2/2015
Red Group

Feminism Essay
In the United States of America, many groups are afforded a minority status based on race,
religion, ethnicity, wealth, etc. However, Women are not officially one of these groups, but in light of the
treatment of women in the workforce, educational and legal system, one wonders whether they should be
afforded the full legal protection of a minority group.
In 1923 suffragist leader and founder of the National Womens Party, Alice Paul, wrote the
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), affirming the equal application of the U.S. Constitution to both
females and males. Between 1923 and 1972 the bill was introduced in every session of congress and was
sent to all states for ratification. In these 49 years, despite strong backing from former presidents and
current congressmen, the bill only got 35 out of the 38 states required to ratify. Phyllis Schlafly and her
radical pro- life, anti-gay marriage and anti- ERA organization, the Eagle Forum, are given much credit
for the failure of the ERA. The feminist activist believed that while claiming to benefit women, the ERA
would actually have taken away some of women's rights (Schlafly). She also claimed that the ERA
would cause women to be ridded of rights designed specifically for women such as: women's traditional
exemption from military conscription and also from military combat duty, traditional benefits in the law
for wives, widows and mothers, and that the Amendment would make unconstitutional the laws that
impose on a husband the obligation to support his wife, [and] the ERA's impact on education would take
away rights from women students (The Phyillis Schlafly Report). On the opposite side, feminist leader
Susan Browmiller, author of the book Against Our Will, supported the ERA because she felt it would
force men to view women as equal, and would make it impossible for men to view women as property
they own and can use at their leisure. Brownmiller believed in the equality of the sexes and strongly
believed that the destruction of traditional gender roles, pornography, and the idea that only men are
allowed to do certain things is what made society give in to a system where women had no choice but to
let men be [their] lawful protectors (Brownmiller, 388).

When it comes to Womens rights and feminism, another debated topic considers whether
pornography is equivalent to hate speech. While consensual sex can be beautiful and an act of love,
pornography can most definitely be seen as a form of hate speech used to keep women in their place
because of the usually violent and dominating content of pornographic films and images. Most
pornography involves men enacting their fantasy, using a woman as a tool for their sexual desire, making
it impossible to see them as an equal human being. This depiction of the male fantasy communicates to
men what kind of sexual acts they should want to perform on real women, which many times includes
verbal, physical and sexual abuse (Freedom of Speech Does). Much of the pornography industry defends
pornographic images saying that pornography is a kind of speech, all speech should be protected, and
therefore pornography should be protected. While in the U.S.A it is true that the 1 st amendment protects
the right to free speech, hate speech is a serious problem described as speech that offends, threatens, or
insults groups, based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or other traits
(Debating Hate Speech ). Pornography can clearly be viewed as threatening women based on their sex,
and depicts there gender as inferior.
Between the time the ERA was written and now, times have drastically changed for women.
Affirmative action programs have played a critical role in opening up opportunities for women and
minorities to begin to take their rightful place in our society (Affirmative Action and What).
However, while women are now nearly half the workforce An earnings gap [still] exists between
women and men across a wide spectrum of occupations and the gender gap in higher education has all
but disappeared.
In the United States, women are many times wrongfully treated as a minority group in our
society, without being given most of the legal protection and privileges minorities are afforded. For
almost a century, the feminist movement has tried repeatedly to fight for their rights, and is continuing to
make the USA a gender equal nation and society, by advocating against pornography, which
inappropriately degrades women, and lobbying in congress with bills such as the ERA.

Works Cited
"Affirmative Action and What It Means for Women." National Women's Law Center. N.p., n.d.
Web. 3 May 2015. <http://www.nwlc.org/resource/affirmative-action-and-what-it-meanswomen>.
"Debating Hate Speech." American Bar Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2015.
<http://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/initiatives_awards/students_in_act
ion/debate_hate.html>.
The Equal Rights Ammendment. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2015.
<http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/overview.htm>.
"Freedom of Speech Does Not Justify Pornography." The Prime Detective. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May
2015. <https://francoistremblay.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/freedom-of-speech-does-notjustify-pornography/>.
"The Phyllis Schlafly Report." Eagle Forum. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2015.
<http://www.eagleforum.org/psr/1986/sept86/psrsep86.html>.
Schafly, Phyllis. "'Equal Rights' for Women: Wrong Then, Wrong Now." LA Times. N.p., n.d.
Web. 2 May 2015. <http://www.latimes.com/la-op-schafly8apr08-story.html>.