ABSTRACT

The story of Phyllis Schlafly's opposition to the ERA begins in irony, for the forces that shaped Phyllis Schlafly's life were not so different from the forces that shaped Betty Friedan's. Schlafly parted company with feminists precisely at this juncture. She claimed for herself the right to run for office and never wavered in her support for women's suffrage. Schlafly's was not the only movement on the Right to oppose the ERA. But she provided the first indication that women were divided on the issue and that there was a way to link the "New Right" with the "religious Right" by way of "family values." Indeed, Schlafly's purpose was to get conservatives, and especially women conservatives, "hot and bothered" over the ERA. Phyllis Schlafly's first contribution was her critique of the ERA for conservatives. Phyllis Schlafly discovered and drew on a great deal of latent antifeminism that feminists either ignored or decided did not exist.