I am Woman, Hear me Rot. As Long as all the Men are OK with it.

Phyllis Schlafly, who had the audacity to put on shoes and leave the kitchen, has died at the age of 92, thus denying her the right to celebrate Hillary Clinton’s loss, so at least that’s something. Among Schlafly’s betrayal of the sisterhood was her opposition to women’s rights and equal pay, abortion, sex education and women in the military, and she helped kill the Equal Rights Amendment, which had been ratified by 25 of the necessary 35 states before she got involved. She blamed women for domestic violence, discounted sexual harassment and said married women can’t be raped by their husbands. Lest women get all the hate, she also opposed gay rights, didn’t believe in evolution, argued that forcing fathers to pay child support didn’t benefit children and said, “The atomic bomb is a marvelous gift that was given to our country by a wise God.” Despite her unrepentant craziness, in her day the John Bircher was quite influential. Her 1964 book A Choice Not an Echo rejected the liberal wing of the Republican party and called on conservatives to take the party back, helping Barry Goldwater to secure the nomination and the worst whupping in a presidential election in US history.