Schlafly linked anti-communism with opposition to feminism in New Right ideology

Evidence

Activist Phyllis Schlafly shared Viguerie’s obsession with the communist menace. In the 1950s she wrote, “The plain facts are that Communism is advancing over the surface of the globe with such rapidity that if it continues at the same rate for the next thirteen years that it has been advancing during the past thirteen years, America will be Communist by 1970.” But Schlafly also gave voice to another motivating concern of the emerging right-wing consensus: the specter of feminism. Schlafly rose to prominence in her campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment. The feminist movement, she asserted, “is the most destructive element in our society.” — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 240

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the Complaints About Immodesty article’s theme of moral-panic framing of women’s movements through overlapping enemies. — connects to: Schlafly’s anti-feminism appealed to working-class women facing poor jobs — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 159; Schlafly dated the modern pro-family movement to anti-ERA organizing, not to Roe — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 268

Broader Connections

• Schlafly’s anti-feminism appealed to working-class women facing poor jobs #exemplifies (0.80) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 159