As Minnesotan Gretchen Carlson wins a $20 million dollar settlement from Fox for sexual harassment by Roger Ailes, Trump buddy and adviser, and as Fox prepared to settle with up to 20 more women (and possibly counting), misogynist Phyllis Schlafly finally departed this mortal coil. The Ailes harassment was well documented, many other women made similar complaints, and this sort of settlement and accompanying corporate apology are highly unusual.
I'm no fan of Carlson, but no one should be sexually harassed.
On the subject of the phone taped instances of Roger Ailes sexually harassing Gretchen Carlson, and re: the many other women at Fox who came forward with similar allegations, including Megan Kelly, Trump stated in July 2016, by way of excusing Ailes misconduct:
"He [Roger Ailes] really helped those women who are complaining."Regarding Ivana Trump's allegation of rape by Donald Trump during their marriage, in yet another example of the right condoning and excusing rape:
"...Michael Cohen, the Trump Organizations special counsel, told the Daily Beast "And of course, understand by the very definition, you can't rape your spouse."I won't wish anyone drop dead. But I won't pretend to be sorry that Phyllis Schlafly is dead, and if there is a hell, is burning in one of the levels of the devil's personal inferno.
[ed. note - YES, it is legally recognized that you can rape your spouse, and it is a crime including in NY, where both the Trump marriage and divorce took place. - DG]
A collection of quotes representing not only Schlafly personally but the worst misogyny of the right, especially Trump supporters, should explain why.
"Non-criminal sexual harassment on the job is not a problem for the virtuous woman except in the rarest of cases." United States Senate (1981). Sex Discrimination in the Workplace, 1981: Hearings Before the Committee on Labor and Human Resources. GPO. pp. 400. (note - Schlafly said versions of this quote on other occasions, beginning earlier, spaced over decades)
“When marriages are broken by false allegations of domestic violence, U.S. taxpayers fork up an estimated $20 billion a year to support the resulting single-parent, welfare-dependent families.” – Schlafly, Feb. 2011.
(Schlafly was also skeptical that not only domestic violence, but rape, or sexual harassment was a problem for women.)
"By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don't think you can call it rape." Leonard, J.T. (2007-03-29). "Schlafly cranks up agitation at Bates". Sun Journal "It's really dangerous for a guy to go to college these days. He's better off if he doesn't talk to any women when he gets there. The feminists are perfectly glad to make false accusations and then claim all men are capable of some dastardly deed like rape." December 2014, referencing the Rolling Stone UVA rape story
For context:
"The Steinhauer NY Times] article quoted Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who said, “We don’t know the facts of what did or did not happen in this case. But these facts have not changed. UVA has admitted they have allowed students who have confessed to sexually assaulting another student to remain on campus. That is and remains shocking.” But Steinhauer said many conservatives “bristle at the concept of a rape culture that permeates the discussion of sexual assault on campuses.”To continue with the offensive Schlafly quotes:
“Long ago when I went to college, campuses were about 70 percent male, and until 1970 it was still nearly 60 percent,” Schlafly wrote. “Today, however, the male percentage has fallen to the low 40s on most campuses. Boys are more likely than girls to look at the cost-benefit tradeoff of going to college,” Schlafly asserted. “The imbalance of far more women than men at colleges has been a factor in the various sex scandals that have made news in the last couple of years.” “Another solution might be to stop granting college loans,” she suggested, “thereby forcing students to take jobs to pay for their tuition and eliminate time for parties, perhaps even wiping out time for fraternities and sororities.” Schlafly's proposed solution was not to allow women entry to college. “One solution might be to impose the duty on admissions officers to arbitrarily admit only half women and half men.” “Another solution might be to stop granting college loans,” she suggested, “thereby forcing students to take jobs to pay for their tuition and eliminate time for parties, perhaps even wiping out time for fraternities and sororities."And Schlafly did not want women to earn equal pay for equal work; she WANTED women to earn less, including earning less to go to college: "[the best way to empower women] is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so-called pay gap." Given men still earn more than women by a significant amount, and given that most students working their way through college earn around minimum wage, ending student loans and grants would effectively bar more women than men (but plenty of less affluent men too) from attending college, which is counterproductive to the American economy and to individual advancement out of poverty and up the socio-economic ladder. There is zero evidence to support the premise that cutting funding to women or men would reduce the incidence of campus rape or sexual harassment on college campuses. Phyllis Schlafly has been a strident Trump supporter in the 2016 election cycle; from the Trump campaign head, Kellyanne Conway:
It is worth noting that Trump has been accused of multiple instances of rape, and has been accused of sexual harassment, and his business has been sued, twice, for sexual harassment. As noted by USA Today:
Trump’s employees have sued over sexual harassment
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/candidates-facebook-account-calls-for-rape-of-journalist/
From comments made in the NBC Forum on 9/7 and prior rape related tweets from Trump:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-military-sexual-assault_us_57d0b947e4b03d2d45985347
https://mic.com/articles/99820/about-14-000-men-in-the-military-were-raped-last-year-almost-none-will-report-it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_assault_in_the_United_States_military
This is not how men who genuinely enjoy and appreciate and respect women speak; this is systemic misogyny. Rape and domestic violence and sexual harassment are all natural extensions of such misogyny. Rape and sexual harassment of women does not exist, without misogyny.
