Wonderful Women Of The World
Posted by Michelle Moquin on April 19th, 2014
NOT!
Good morning!
Just when you think you’ve heard it all from ignorant female Repub, let me share this recent that came across my plate, and literally made me mouth “WTF.”
Prominent Republican: Women Need To Be Paid Less So They Can Find Husbands
On Sunday, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sought to advance the GOP’s rebranding effort among female voters by suggesting that Republicans have long “led the fight for women’s equality.” The statement came just days after Republicans voted down the Paycheck Fairness Act and sought to downplay the problem of equal pay for equal work by suggesting that Democrats were using the issue to distract from Obamacare.
Now three days later, a prominent member of the Republican movement further undermined the party’s campaign to appeal to women voters by suggesting that the current pay gap isn’t wide enough. In an op-ed published by the Christian Post, Phyllis Schlafly — the founder of the Eagle Forum — maintained that increasing the pay gap will help women find suitable husbands:
Another fact is the influence of hypergamy, which means that women typically choose a mate (husband or boyfriend) who earns more than she does. Men don’t have the same preference for a higher-earning mate.
While women prefer to HAVE a higher-earning partner, men generally prefer to BE the higher-earning partner in a relationship. This simple but profound difference between the sexes has powerful consequences for the so-called pay gap.
Suppose the pay gap between men and women were magically eliminated. If that happened, simple arithmetic suggests that half of women would be unable to find what they regard as a suitable mate.
Obviously, I’m not saying women won’t date or marry a lower-earning (sic)men, only that they probably prefer not to. If a higher-earning man is not available, many women are more likely not to marry at all. [...]
The best way to improve economic prospects for women is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so-called pay gap.
Schlafly has long been crusader for “traditional values” within conservative movement and the Republican party, serving as a member of the National GOP Platform Committee as recently as 2012 and as a delegate to the National Convention. Her Eagle Forum PAC has also donated thousands to prominent Republicans like Eric Cantor, Michele Bachmann, Steve King, and Ted Cruz.
Since losing the presidential election in 2012, Republicans have repeatedly tried to enhance the GOP’s appeal beyond its traditional white male voting base. In 2013, the Republican National Committee published a widely discussed “autopsy,” promising to “addresses concerns that are on women’s minds in order to let them know we are fighting for them,” and held training sessions advising candidates to simply avoid talking about rape. Schlafly’s comments appear to undermine that effort.
*****
Sigh…I normally don’t reserve Saturdays for women that don’t belong in the Wonderful Women Of The World category, but this time I couldn’t help it because Schlafly is the absolute opposite of the women that I would normally post under this heading, …women that do support women. We have enough troubles getting men to support equal pay for women, we don’t need ignorant women such as Schlafly, walking lock-step beside them.
If women question womens’ value, what message does it send to the men? And what message does it send to young girls, and boys? I can tell you the answers are obviously not good and only adds fuel to the fire of keeping women down where the men want us. If we can’t get the support of our sisters, not many men are going to stand up and support us when they can see that women won’t even support our right to be treated equally.
Sigh…Blog me.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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April 19th, 2014 at 1:31 pm
Phyllis has been spewing her ‘old fashioned family values’ for a long time, she’s such a backward thinking knucklehead it’s hard to want to even give her any energy whatsoever so I won’t.
It really doesn’t matter whether you ‘agree’ with the current cultural ‘values’ you have to handle life as it is and as you want it to be moving forward, attempting to get women to swap ambition/necessity (or just normal equal pay fr equal work, hello) for a dude w a higher paying job she can’t get is just profoindly stupid.
Eyeyiyi…
Peace out on this one! Luv, Zen Lill
April 19th, 2014 at 5:08 pm
That bitch is just crazy.
April 19th, 2014 at 5:28 pm
Over the past year, Ohio Governor John Kasich, Secretary of State Jon Husted, and Republicans in the Ohio legislature have repeatedly attacked Ohio citizens’ right to vote. They have passed three bills that make it more difficult for working people and minorities to vote, and Secretary Husted has eliminated voting on the Sundays before elections — when many minority voters have cast their votes in recent years.
Given the threats to Ohioans’ voting rights, and the major role Ohio plays as a swing state in presidential elections, the Department of Justice needs to get involved and make sure Ohio voters’ rights are not being infringed upon.
That’s why I started my own campaign on CREDOMobilize.com, which allows activists to start their own petitions. My petition, which is to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, says the following:
Every Ohioan deserves the opportunity to vote. Launch an investigation into the latest Republican attacks on Ohio citizens’ right to vote.
We know that Attorney General Eric Holder cares about protecting the voting rights of American citizens because the Department of Justice was recently instrumental in ensuring access to bilingual ballots. Now we need Attorney General Holder to intervene again.
It is shameful that almost 50 years after the adoption of the Voting Rights Act, we still have to fight voter suppression efforts in Ohio. But Republican attacks on our right to vote aren’t over: They’re still trying to cut back early voting hours and restrict provisional ballots.
Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald has already requested that Attorney General Eric Holder intervene. By signing my petition you can bolster that request and make it more likely that Attorney General Holder steps in to stop Ohio Republicans from stealing the next election.
Thank you for your support.
Sara Vredevoogd
April 19th, 2014 at 6:20 pm
Phyllis Schlafly is a horrible excuse for a human being who’s never HAD to live the existence she been pushing at everyone else for decades.
If she’d ever HAD to walk her talk, she’d probably have shut up a long time ago. Marsha Blackburn is more of the same. The right-wing hypocrisy is great with these women. Shame on them and anyone else doing what they’re doing here.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:21 pm
How about they pay women more so I can find a rich wife?
April 19th, 2014 at 6:22 pm
I don’t think she’s senile, and imbecile, or a horrible human being. In fact, we are danger of missing the greater problem when we attribute attitudes like these to one’s moral failings or to diminished capacity.
They are the product of the “smoking room,” closed circles where like-minded people of particular ideological outlooks talk only to others of the same outlook.
Central assumptions are never challenged and neither are their implications. No doubt, she has voiced these same opinions in the smoking-room and received positive reinforcement.
Romney’s 2012 rant against the 47% of Americans that pay no taxes and “believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it” is another example of language that no doubt got heads nodding in the clubhouse.
When people isolate themselves from dissenting discourse they soon find it difficult to recognize how contorted their thinking has become.
But when the step outside and say the same things that were endorsed as sensible by their peers, they find themselves backpedaling.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:23 pm
That is some seriously warped “reasoning.” Think maybe prevailing social conditions for the last 3000 years or so may have influenced women’s “preference” for a higher-earning mate?
Think the pay gap itself may be a factor in women seeking financial security through their husband, since they aren’t able to accomplish it alone? Or is she saying that higher pay for men is an outcome of genetic evolution – that women who don’t marry higher-paid men are less likely to breed????
What an idiot! The stunner is that anyone seriously publishes her comments.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:25 pm
But who can believe such appalling, class-bound b*llsh*t? A few imbecile debutantes perhaps?
April 19th, 2014 at 6:27 pm
Lots of what you say Mark#6 may be true but that doesn’t detract from the fact that this woman is an imbecile and a horrible human being and I will add Dumber than a box of rocks.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:28 pm
Colbert#8, She’s one of the rich, privileged class and knows nothing about having to work for less or at all. She is a typical hypocritical conservative spouting nonsense for which she has never had to live that kind of life.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:28 pm
if this is true then I feel very sorry for this misguided individual
April 19th, 2014 at 6:29 pm
if this is true then I feel very sorry for this misguided individual
April 19th, 2014 at 6:29 pm
if this is true then I feel very sorry for this misguided individual
April 19th, 2014 at 6:29 pm
if this is true then I feel very sorry for this misguided individual
April 19th, 2014 at 6:29 pm
if this is true then I feel very sorry for this misguided individual
April 19th, 2014 at 6:31 pm
I wonder if she has read this? http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/report/2014/04/15/87638/the-economic-importance-of-womens-rising-hours-of-work/
April 19th, 2014 at 6:32 pm
Schlafly is NOT a prominent anything. She is a hide bound fossil who hasn’t ever had to live the life of a housewife, because she’s had domestic help all these years. Irritating woman, and she always has been.
I thought she was a throwback in the sixties, when I was a teen (yes, she’s been spewing this stuff for decades) and she hasn’t gotten wiser.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:33 pm
Let’s just forbid women from working and then they’d be forced to find a man to support them! After all, aren’t women just taking good jobs away from men now anyway? How any woman can be a republican is a mystery to me!!
April 19th, 2014 at 6:33 pm
What a recipe for making sure a huge majority of women remain impoverished and subservient while a few manage to snare a wealthy male. Good Grief! As far as I am concerned, any woman who settles for Schlafly’s vision of the perfect life is nuttier than the proverbial fruitcake. I’ve taken care of myself for most of my life and, looking back from a 71-year perspective, I would have it no other way.
The sanest step is for women to always be prepared mentally, educationally, to take care of themselves. Then marriage, if it is in their cards, becomes a true partnership.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:33 pm
Ms. Schlafly has obviously become senile, and should be in the memory unit of a long term care facility where she can play bingo with her peers.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:34 pm
The statistics Phyllis cites seem to include women and men of all ages, including lots of baby boomers that had their sexual role models fixed in the days of “Leave it to Beaver”.
I would bet that 30-somethings and younger (both men and women) would be thrilled to date anyone with a stable job, even more so if they have a good paying job, in this new age of negligible job security and very long term unemployment affecting a large part of the population.
As for the young professional women, a young man with a driving ambition to become a Mr Mom could be very attractive, if it frees her up to have a successful career while still having her children. I personally know several young couples who have chosen this path and seem quite content with it.
Her conclusion “The best way to improve economic prospects for women is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so-called pay gap” in no way follows from the statistics she cited, either.
For if a woman does not have a man in her life, it leaves her impoverished for no fault of her own, and if she should be widowed or divorced, again she would become impoverished, along with any children she must care for.
And even the women “blessed” with a husband, must live in fear of losing that connection and may fail to remove themselves and their children from an abusive situation for fear of falling overnight into poverty.
No, women’s best economic prospects come from building and maintaining their own marketable skills and job experience. These “family values” conservatives embrace a vision of the future that is frighteningly similar to the nightmare novel “The Handmaid’s Tale”.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:35 pm
Why would any thinking person ever listen to this throwback, poor excuse of a woman who has had too much time in the limelight and just needs to shut her big mouth and fade away into the sunset.
She should have retired many years ago; she has made millions spewing her brand of hate especially the anti-gay brand even when having a gay son herself. The woman is pure evil.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:36 pm
Stupid stupid stupid
April 19th, 2014 at 6:36 pm
I’d love to know where she gets that “fact” about “the influence of hypergamy, which means that women typically choose a mate (husband or boyfriend) who earns more than she does.” Citations, you old bat, or you made it up.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:37 pm
What a misguided POS!!! I do not WANT her on my side, thank you! Isn’t this a fine example of why we need a younger government?
When senility hits, and they are ALL in the same boat, this is the kind of crazy crap that comes out of their mouths!
April 19th, 2014 at 6:39 pm
Colbert#8, she’s one of the rich, privileged class and knows nothing about having to work for less or at all. She is a typical hypocritical conservative spouting nonsense for which she has never had to live that kind of life.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:40 pm
Sharon#17, She has gotten meaner with age. If she ever had to work for a living she probably wouldn’t be alive today. The idiot has been pampered by hired staff most of her life.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:41 pm
Robin#20, Nah…..she’s been viciously out of touch with reality for decades.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:42 pm
This coming from a woman who’s made millions on her radio shows, can we here from the ordinary woman who go to work everyday please?
April 19th, 2014 at 6:43 pm
her husband must be REALLY wealthy ; )
My parter (a man) makes less than me, and we are fine with that… We would both like to make more, but it is a non issue when it comes to love (I would think).
Marriage is not just a business contract, it is who you want to spend your life with and who want to put up with that long!
April 19th, 2014 at 6:45 pm
Mecerdes#24, “Cinderella” is a perfect example of “marrying up” which is the meaning of hypergamy. However this is no theory, it is merely descriptive and generally refers to women marrying into more money or higher class – but is not limited to women.
There are all kinds of problems with the concept including the concept of marriage which has also been a property agreement or national treaty or means of providing an heir to continue the rulership of some family and so forth.
It generally leaves out non-marital partnerships. But as a now “old guy” I do take minor exception to calling her an “old bat.” Even when young she was just as batty and repulsive.
But let me get back to “Cinderella” – that charming story along with so many other charming stories in which someone common with great physical endowments is elevated into the wonderful world of royalty (1%).
Ugh. Royalty. One of the most useless and damaging sub-groups of the human species. Crew the barricades!! Break out the guillotines!! Gimme a “G” – gimme a “U” – gimme a … :-))
April 19th, 2014 at 6:46 pm
I’m not sure what her problem is, whether it’s old fashioned thinking or senility, but it is warped. The amount someone gets paid should have nothing to do with their sex or their color.
You shouldn’t make less or make more that someone else based on sex or color. It should be based on the knowledge they have and the quality of their work only.
Apparently Ms. Schlafly comes from a generation that believes a woman should depend upon a man for support. What she is not taking into consideration is the large group of women out there that are having to support their families on lower wages that the men doing the same job.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:47 pm
This woman has rarely, if ever, missed an opportunity to make a fatuous remark.
For me, she precisely reflects the mindset, the false values, the worship of corporations, the deep disregard for reality that is bringing our country to ruin.
Somewhere many years ago, I had the dubious opportunity of perusing “The Phyllis Schlafly Report” in the periodical stacks of a major research university. (What a major research university was doing by having a subscription to such anti-intellectual screed may suggest something concerning the unmistakable decline of academia! But that is another sad discussion).
Well.. I recall reading that global warming — if it really exists, now! — might actually have at least one benefit.
And the benefit? Longer growing seasons.
We can only hope that she proves to be correct.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:47 pm
She and the out of touch with reality Pat Robertson need to get together and just fade into obscurity.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:48 pm
Phyllis believes men should be the breadwinners. that would be great if men could step up to the plate. many want to but cannot make a high enough salary in today’s world. most men are not interested in supporting their wives who are struggling to work and raise children at the same time.
Many women want to work. Some women work menial jobs but still want to work. I cannot understand that. The kids always get the short end of the stick but many turn out great in spite of that.
It would be my preference to put more energy into the kids (esp help more with homework) but work and bills have to come first. I compromise by working part time and fall behind financially.
April 19th, 2014 at 6:49 pm
The GOP can easily avoid the political fallout of Schlafy’s advice by publicly condemning it, with as much party unity as possible (so, not just McCain).
*waits for it*
*belly laughs*
April 19th, 2014 at 6:55 pm
Mike#31;
Oh Cinderella was actually very subversive. In its present form it was one of the “fairy tales” that were created for adults, not children, among some of the more enlightened women of the French Court, although there are versions of it in many countries. It is a story of “Virtue rewarded,” “Hidden Treasure Revealed,” “Unjust Oppression,” and a great deal of satire.
In the original as we know it (French version), Cinderella’s father is still very much alive and pretty much under the heel of his wife (the wicked stepmother, who, with her children, is the epitome of the vulgarity of the 1%).
The entire family is extremely well off, although it is not clear how much money Wicked S brought to the family in the story. Cinderella cares for her father and basically keeps him alive (“Virtue rewarded”), despite the obvious wishes of Wicked S that he should just die and leave her totally free to pursue whatever she chooses–
Mostly she is occupied with finding more rich/titled suckers for her two daughters, but it’s pretty clear that while the girls are indulged and spoiled, Wicked mostly wants them off her hands.
This is satire on the “marrying mommas” of the court, who were obsessed with shoving their daughters into an “advantageous” marriage regardless of what the man himself was like.
To illustrate the lengths to which these women (and their daughters) would go, at the end of the story when the slipper-and-Prince turns up, in the original, one girl cuts off her toes to fit into it, and the other cuts off her heel.
Blackburn would be right at home with Wicked and the Steps, and probably commend them for mutilating themselves to get a good “catch.”
The point of the original story being, there certainly are venal, shallow women out there who would do anything to marry for money or title, but they certainly are not admirable and not to be emulated.
A lot of the story is bound up in this satire, for Wicked despises her daughters, they despise each other, they despise the father and they deeply despise Cinderella–and not one of them is happy.
It is to be noted that in most versions of this story, either Wicked and the Steps are themselves handsome women, or they can disguise their faults by means of dazzling jewels and gowns.
In at least one of the French versions I am aware of, Cinderella actually meets with, does kindnesses for, and talks with the Prince (disguised as a servant) when she is sent for water several times.
But of course, even though she likes him a great deal there is no way Wicked is going to let her marry anyone (and she would, in fact, be marrying down, for love, since the family is wealthy), and she can’t leave her father at the mercy of Wicked.
When the reveal happens (“Hidden Treasure Revealed”) Cinderella is shown to be what she is; the Prince’s equal in wealth (if not rank) and gets her reward for having cared for her put-upon father and for having such a good heart (“Virtue Rewarded”).
The moral of the story is that while beauty is a fine thing to have, it is virtue, that and kindness that are the most valuable. This is especially driven home in the versions in which Cinderella already knows the Prince as a fellow servant.
It’s the Disney version (quelle surprise) that dumbs the whole thing down to “she’s pretty so she deserves to marry up.”
April 20th, 2014 at 9:41 am
Mercedes,
Perfect coverage of an otherwise totally adulterated version of Cinderella.
Phyllis’s skewed version of women looking for the hypergamy angle is just plain dumb and elementary, its a twisted version of the DNA drive to look for certain biological markers in mates by males and females, sorry to make that sound clinical but markers I look for may not be the markers another woman looks for though they are drives that are biological first and subconscious second, the rest is governed by your world view – and again, hers is skewed by decades of believing her own nonsense without looking out the window at how others live.
They say a sign of maturity is to see any sutuation from different viewpoints other than just your own, she doesn’t pass that test and she’s as old as god, it won’t improve from here…
Luv, Zen Lill
April 20th, 2014 at 10:33 am
Mark #6 – truth
/SB
April 20th, 2014 at 10:39 am
Mercedes #37 great contribution today. I’ll have to find a French version of the story.
Happy Easter everybody
/SB
April 20th, 2014 at 11:00 pm
[…] Mercedes: I have never heard that story told that way before. How interesting and illuminating. Like /SB, I would be interested in reading the French version as well. Thank you for sharing. […]