Would it have killed them to point out the fact that a woman who opposes women's education received an honorary degree from a university, which she attended?

Guess that's not as juicy as the "Oh those whiny feminists" angle.

I live in St. Louis, so I've been watching the local as well as the national coverage of this story. Again, go Wash U!

Schlafly: "...feminists should get a life and move on"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

That's all for now...

What belittling coverage! "What's the uproar this time?" Seriously?

Would it have killed them to point out the fact that a woman who opposes women's education received an honorary degree from a university, which she attended?

Exactly. This woman would be a nobody, never leaving her home and scrubbing her husband's bunions all day (and then being raped by him) if it weren't for the women before her fighting to be able to attend college and actually talk in class.

I wish CNN would have added this part to that quote: "I think that when you get married you have consented to sex. That's what marriage is all about, I don't know if maybe these girls missed sex ed." That would have been a nice dig at abstinence-only education. Marriage is all about sex? Married women are girls? And if anyone is learning that your husband can fuck you against your will in sex-ed, that's proof right there that the curriculum needs to be changed radically.

Thank You FEMily. I'm pretty disappointed at the quote CNN used. It seemed that the overall feeling of the story went along with the "whiny feminists" or "brain washing women's studies" POV.

I didn't think it was all that bad, for the mainstream media anyway. I don't think Phyllis comes out looking remotely in the right. She comes out looking absurd and ridiculous, like a much older version of Ann Coulter. Yeah, they should have used better quotes and could have been less flippant about students' protesting, but they're trying to make it colloquial to draw in viewers and they have to at least try to be objective. All in all, I didn't think the piece was too bad. Could've been lots better, certainly. But not too bad.

What makes me most mad about this is if Schlafly had the same attitude and said the same thing about people of color instead of women then Washington University would have canceled her honorary degree in a heartbeat. Racism is a large problem in the US and around the world today, but at least there is an understanding that being overtly racist is wrong and will get your ass in trouble. Whereas being overtly sexist is completely fine and people seem to think that sexism isn't a problem. It drives me up the wall.

I felt this coverage was stupid and belittling, but that's to be expected. I was proud that fully half the Wash U student body turned around, though!! That is fantastic. Good job, guys.

FemiDancer - I think you are right and wrong here. Certainly people do tend to more against racism,but I think Schlafly is accepted because she is a woman and to many people that makes it okay. If it were Rush Limbaugh saying you can rape your wife the repercussions would be far stronger. Carlos Mencia can say things about hispanics and people laugh, but if I said it, I would be racist. Chris Rock can make jokes about blacks, but if John Stewart said the same things, he would be in trouble. The right hold up these women like Ann Coulter and say, see they're women, they understand how it should be. In reality though they represent 1/100th of the women in the world (if that) and wouldn't be in the position of power they hold if not for the evil feminists that came before them. That is the part that really kills me. I am so thankful that I can do what I do because of trailblazers before me, how can they not see that?

Hey there, you can embed video using quicktime, AVS, divx or any number of software interfaces and put it directly onto your website. You Tube kind of stinks.

Hi! There are many alternatives to using YouTube if you'd like to post video footage, including quicktime, divx, AVS and others.

Not to mention that Ms. Schafly is homophobic or at least opposes full civil rights for gays, yet she has a gay son!

Not to mention that Ms. Schafly is homophobic or at least opposes full civil rights for gays, yet she has a gay son!

Did anyone else notice that when they used the map of the US in this story, they zoomed into Washington DC, as if that's where Washington University (St. Louis) is.

Just sort of made me chuckle.

Did she actually speak at the graduation, or did she just get the degree and sit down?

"Exactly. This woman would be a nobody, never leaving her home and scrubbing her husband's bunions all day (and then being raped by him) if it weren't for the women before her..."

Exactly!

"...fighting to be able to attend college and actually talk in class."

Not to mention the women before her fighting for girls to be able to attend elementary and secondary school.

While I went to college and needed it to get the job I have now, I don't want to dismiss the many female workers who *neither* are stuck at home *nor* went to college...

That...that...

Okay, I'm being cautious. As a man and a feminist, would it be all right for me to call Ms. Schlafly a horrid cow?

Men that oppose feminism don't matter in the grand scheme of things; it's the women that oppose feminism that are the problem. Once all women agree with feminist ideas, men won't be able to hide from justice. Men don't have the capacity for sympathy, so they are not ones that protect men that do wrong; it's the women that agree with twisted paternal doctrine that prevents justice from being done.

"Men that oppose feminism don't matter in the grand scheme of things; it's the women that oppose feminism that are the problem. Once all women agree with feminist ideas, men won't be able to hide from justice."

*Sigh*
Feminism isn't about men vs. women -- it's about equality for both. Therefore, it's important to get both women and men on board with feminism.

Plus, even if all women were to become feminists magically overnight, men opposing feminism would still matter, because the majority of people in positions of authority are male!

"Men don't have the capacity for sympathy..."

That is a sexist statement. Men have as much capacity for sympathy as women do for casual cruelty.

why did the video go away?

It didn't. Just refresh the page and it will play. It tends to happen when you embed YouTube videos on a website. It's a bug or something.

Men are as capable of feeling sympathy and are also welcome to the feminist movement. And no, before you ask, they don't necessarily have to be gay or belong to group minorities. Your everyday WASPs can be feminists too.

I say, the day Phyllis Schlafy dies, all the feminists in the world (women AND men) should throw parties. Or at least pop the champagne.

Can someone please explain to me how it is that I want to treat men like the prisoners in the photos?
I was unaware that I got off on abusing human beings.
Thanks, Phyllis, for speaking for me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known I was a sadistic man-hater!

Phyllis GADFLY is more like it!

The sad thing is that Schlafly has probably met hundreds if not thousands of HAPPY feminists over the years--she just had no idea. If she'd bothered to ask, she'd know exactly how feminism made a lot of women's lives better. But then disagreeing with the status quo, on gender matters or otherwise, does equate to "bitterness" in certain people's minds.

Please tell me I am not the only one who saw that awful woman on Fox News turn the Washington University protest into a free speech issue: where Liberals on campus interrupted Schafely's free speech by SILENTLY protesting her honorary degree! The interviewer (can't think of her name) completely railroaded the female liberal representative while the male conservative representative sat by smugly. It made me so furious I almost cried.

gayforshlafly,

made me laugh HARD!

If she'd bothered to ask, she'd know exactly how feminism made a lot of women's lives better.

She knows damn well how feminism has made a lot of women's lives better. She is university educated, with a law degree, and a high-profile career. She's living proof of how women have benefited from feminism.

Schlafly isn't anti-feminist. She's anti-other-women-benefiting-from feminism.

I am reminded of another kickass graduation protest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVPVA6k5CB0

Very awesome of them.

Though I must say, Wolf's "what's the controversy this time?" comment sounded a little condescending and douche-y to me.

Isn't accepting an honorary degree (and having her own Bachelor's and law degrees) hypocritical of her? She thinks women should stay out of the workforce and be at home, why isn't she leading by example? She should have refused her degree on the grounds that she doesn't want to be treated like a man.

"Men don't have the capacity for sympathy..."

Wow. Talk about inadvertently giving loathsome people like Schlafly credibility.

Men don't have the capacity for sympathy, so they are not ones that protect men that do wrong; it's the women that agree with twisted paternal doctrine that prevents justice from being done.

Aren't you a dude? Are you telling us that YOU are incapable of feeling sympathy?
I don't get this. Since it's mostly men in power, yeah, their anti-feminism DOES matter.
It sounds to me like you hold women to a higher standard than men.

Washington University is one of the best colleges in the US. The students are well educated and top notch, capable of doing anything they set their minds to. Tennessee Williams was kicked out of this school (or was it SLU?) and they've done nothing but congratulate themselves on admitting him. Then there's this. I think the faculty is the hardest working and most caring in the business but something happened in the administration and heads were shoved so far up asses that the weather must be bubble gum with a high of rainbows for the entire year where they are now.

I love my town very much but we will always be haunted with Phyllis and her nutjob organization breathing creepily down the city's neck from just a few miles from the city limits. Tragically one of the best microbrews ever created shares a name but not a relation. Ironic?

I help out in the office and heard two teachers talking. One of the ladies is from Denmark or Portagul or someplace. And the other is a Muslem I think. I heard one say that she wishes that feminists knew that most violence against women is because of feminism. The other one agreed. They were pretty upset. Not at each other but. One said I think the Muslem lady that she thinks the war in Afganstan and Iraq are cuz Muslem men don't ever want their women to become like American women. I didn't say nothing cuz I don't know what to say. just thot u should know.