The Left Abandoned Women a Long Time Ago

When my mother attended pro-ERA meetings in the early 1980s, she was greeted with indifference and condescension. A church-going housewife with seven kids simply didn't belong.

Neither did anyone else who wasn't a working woman in a two-income family, 1.5 children plus a nanny.

As my mother tells it, many women who attended the meetings (in Albany, New York) attempted to question the organizers about the effect of passing the amendment: would they lose maternity leave? would their husbands and sons who were members of unions suffer any loss of benefits?

The response was blithe indifference--the women simply needed to rally behind the amendment, rah rah rah.

As historians since have pointed out, this inability to answer deep concerns from women, not only regarding themselves but regarding their families, played a significant role in why the Equal Rights Amendment failed. The leaders also ignored women's grassroots organizations, such as book clubs, garden clubs, religious groups, neighborhood associations. Phyllis Schlafly worked through such organizations to rally opposition to the amendment and focused instead on helping women through the passage of specific legislation.

My mother didn't take personally anything that happened in Albany. She went back to college and got her master's degree. That was my role model, not a woman who sat around whining because the patriarchal establishment was keeping her down.

She didn't even whine about the ERA leaders--I learned much of this information when I got older, did my own research, then spoke to her about her experience.

I did my own research in my twenties because I was tired of the left's attitude that, as a woman, I--and all other women--should think alike, vote alike, all care about the same issues.

It was a relief for me to get older and realize that there were women like Tulsi Gabbard who had opinions about the military. Before that, I felt that I was being relegated--BY WOMEN--to certain attitudes and opinions and political positions. Forget so-called patriarchal men. The women on the left were the ones trying to put me in my place.

It was tremendous relief for me to find Camille Paglia. Like Paglia, I support the legalization of abortion (let's call it what it is) on libertarian grounds. Also like Paglia, I have enormous respect for the pro-life position. I can't say I get overly excited about the crazy guy who stands outside our local Planned Parenthood with pictures of dead babies. But on a number of occasions, I have been impressed by the following:

1. Organized, calm pro-life protesters outside Planned Parenthood.
2. Organized, calm Planned Parenthood workers waiting outside for anyone who has an appointment. 

THAT'S how democracy works, people. Both sides have a legitimate position and both sides are showing respect to each other and the people around them. Arguing that somehow the mere existence of one or the other side is inherently damaging is NOT how democracy works. They both exist. Get over it.

And, again, I respect the pro-life position--to which I adhere personally and morally--and maintain that the abortion side requires thought and regulation. Camille Paglia cites a liberal Canadian woman who wrote her--not to current so-called feminist leaders--because she felt that Paglia would understand her ethical dilemma regarding abortion: the more she learned from modern medicine about the fetus, the more complicated the issue became for her.

Camille Paglia also has enormous respect for her Italian heritage, including the domestic women of that heritage and their religious beliefs. She's an atheist, single, working woman. That doesn't stop her from appreciating other lifestyles, positions, and backgrounds.

Currently, so-called feminists on the left seem entirely incapable of doing this, of allowing women who do not think exactly as they have determined women should think and speak to voice opinions--

They continue to abandon--

1. Female athletes who are worried about competing against transgender athletes.
2. Ayaan Hirsi Ali and other women who point out the regressive, damaging nature of certain ideas and behaviors.
3. Women who did not wish to vote for Elizabeth Warren (I never would)--see Althouse's post on this topic.
4. Women who question the National Women's Marches.
5. Women who question laws surrounding abortion.
6. Other women--supposedly in their own party--who don't agree with them (after which, they ironically claim that all women should vote for the candidate they have selected out of "sisterhood").

And the list grows.

I think many people remember how Hillary Clinton was criticized by the press when her husband first ran against George Bush--I'm not sure if anyone remembers how the press treated Barbara Bush and Marilyn Quayle. I remember. I was watching the Republican Convention. Both women spoke in support of their husbands.

"Oh, they are just saying what their husbands want them to say," the press proclaimed.

I knew then that women like me would have to make their own paths.

And it isn't with the left.