Ohh Nooo Phyllis! Not Again!

Six of us women have been friends for more than a decade. We met in a discussion group for divorced women that I was facilitating at the time, and we eventually drifted away and formed our own little circle. We

9 thoughts on “Ohh Nooo Phyllis! Not Again!

  1. Late yesterday, as Bob was flipping through the channels (it was his birthday so for once I didn’t insist he choose one) for a moment or two I saw a clip of Phyllis Schafly going over a family photography with an interviewer. I was taken by surprise, too. I didn’t know she was still around. From your post, now I know she must have been promoting her book.
    Sort of related, and even more disturbing to me are some of the other popular TV fare, for example “The Bachelor” and similar shows. Whether they are “real” or contrived, I always wonder (sometimes aloud) who is watching such shows, (and then I’m shocked to discover that among the viewers are people I know and respect). Sigh.

  2. Gina,
    I once asked somebody I really liked and respected why she watched it and she said it was like watching a slow-motion train wreck…It fascinates and horrifies at the same time.

  3. Yes, I’ve heard people who watch those programs say the same kind of thing. To me those programs just seem like such a waste of everyone’s time. Reality TV?! They’re hardly that. I’d rather watch a well-acted fictional mystery.
    And yes, shows like the Bachelor etc. continue to push those old notions of affluent man as some sort of prize for which women compete with each other — with Victoria Secret as the standard by which men judge the winner. I don’t see things changing for the more human any time soon. Very discouraging.

  4. I find it hard to believe that old Phil is stil around, welding her rol of saran wrap. I wonder if her audience is any larger then it was is the ’70s.
    Sometinmes, from what I read,( America becoming so very conservative, or so the press leads one to believe) I almost must imagine that it is.

  5. As a teenager these days growing up, I see a lot of parents with the attitude you guys have. guess what? it stinks! As a teenager, I would like to say that this relaxed era that we are in now is what is tearing our world apart. do you know how many people are hurt over one divorce? you dont have to be religeous or a saint to feel this way either. thank you.

  6. >
    Dear Teenatiger,
    Feminism isn’t about ‘relaxed’ anything. It’s about women having opportunities: the opportunity to make a living wage, to have a voice, whatever.
    Please, don’t confuse feminism with fast & loose morals or whatever Ms.Schafly and Rush Limbaugh and their ilk would have you believe. Many of us are happily married, happily monogamous folks—and surprisingly, some of us don’t think ‘quick ‘n’ easy’ divorce is a good thing– (yet, I certainly don’t think anyone, male or female should stay in a loveless relationship–then again, I don’t think folks should just procreate willy-nilly, either, but I digress…). I’m sorry that you have possibly (by the tone of your note) been hurt by divorce, but is feminism the reason? Why blame an ideology? And I hope that you won’t try to romanticize an era you didn’t live through—I beg you, don’t let media whores with an agenda or offerings on Nick-at-Nite give you the impression that everything was just dandy “back in the day”. My best to you.

  7. It’s getting so that it’s not even worth arguing anymore. People are coming from such completely different perspectives…I feel as though anything I say to a feminist about my feelings as to how feminism has damaged our country would be immediately refuted without consideration. It’s a little insulting when certain parties or political figures use words like “conservative” and “religious” as synonymous with “idiots”. That’s the kind of arrogance that loses elections.

  8. Dear Christina —
    The young women of today have the opportunities for career advancement now because of the war that the feminists waged against the male dominated system thirty or so years ago — before someone like was was even born, I’ll wager.
    Idiots come in all ideologies. Phyllis happens to be one of the more dangerous conservative and religious ones.
    Learn from history and don’t repeat the mistakes of the past (and present) that will take this country into a new dark age of racial, gender, and economic ghettos.
    That’s where we’re going, girl, where if you’re white and affluent, you’ll do just fine. And if your a female, well, have you read the “Handmaid’s Tale?”

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