Darien Price

Red Group
Feminism Essay
Women should be afforded the legal protection rights of a minority group because
they are usually held at a lower level than men, have long been considered property of men
and been only appreciated for their bodies. Against Our Will by Susan Brownmiller captures
the essence of the feminist movement of the 1970s. Brownmiller is pro-feminist while
Phyllis Schafly is not. Pro-feminists like Brownmiller supported the passage of the Equal
Rights Amendment, or the ERA. The ERA calls for the equality of rights under the law shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex (The Equal
Rights Amendment). The amendment was sent to the states for them to ratify it, but it never
passed. A few of the many reasons that women, like Phyllis Schafly did not support the ERA,
were because it would require women to be drafted into military combat any time men were
conscripted, abolish the presumption that the husband should support his wife and take away
Social Security benefits for wives and widows(Equal Rights for Women). The ERA would
make the both of the sexes equal on all levels including the military. The women who did not
support the ERA feared being drafted for the army when a mandatory draft came for a war.
The ERA would also void the gender role that called for the women to be supported by their
husbands.
Pornography is one of the most debated topics of the feminist movement.
Pornography should be considered as a form of hate speech that is used to keep women in
their place. Susan Brownmiller writes, in Against Our Will, Pornography, like rape, is a
male invention, designed to dehumanize women, to reduce the female to an object of sexual
access Men to show that womens bodies are for solely sexual pleasure use pornography.
Brownmiller also writes ugly smut [is] the deliberate devaluation of the role of the women

through obscene, distorted depictions. and that the womens naked body is [her] shame
shame her private parts are the property of the man, while his are the ancient, holy,
universal, patriarchal instrument of his power. Pornography perpetuates the stereotype that
men are dominant to the female and the female only exists to pleasure and serve men.
Brownmiller also comments on females reaction to pornography. She says that their disgust
comes from the gut knowledge that we and our bodies are being stripped, exposed and
contorted for the purpose of ridicule to bolster that masculine esteem which gets its kick and
sense of power from viewing females as anonymous, panting play things, adult toys,
dehumanized to be used, abused, broken and discarded. Pornography boosts the male ego
that women are just objects to be used for pleasure and discarded when no longer wanted.
Pornography perpetuates the societal idea that women are objects to be used at mens will
and to not be cared for.
Women have had many advances in equality and rights since this the time that Against Our
Will was written. Marriage implies consent to sexual intercourse at all times, and a husband
has the right to copulate with his wife against her will and by force (Brownmiller). Spousal
rape has been legal until the late 1970s, when Nebraska was the first state to abolish marital
rape exemptions. Now all 50 states recognize spousal rape as a crime (Spousal Rape Laws).
While this represents a large step for womens rights, there is still a lot of work to be done.
Brownmiller says that women should be careful to hang underwear out to dry in the lest
conspicuous place places on the line. If a woman lives alone she shouldnt hang it outside at
all. Along with directions on how to walk home near the curb with her head up and eyes
forward, moving rapidly this shows how people back then though it was the womans
responsibility to keep herself from getting raped. While this has also gotten better, women are
still criticized for causing the rape for wearing clothes that were too tight or too

revealing. While women have made many pushed for equal rights, they must be awarded

the legal protection of a minority group to ensure full gender equality.

Works Cited
Against Our Will. London: Martin Secker & Warburg, 1975. Print.
The Equal Rights Admendment. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2015.
<http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/>.
"'Equal rights' for women: wrong then, wrong now." LA Times [Los Angeles] 8 Apr.
2007: n. pag. Print.
"Spousal Rape Laws Continue to Evolve." WeNews 1 July 2009: n. pag. Print.

awarded the legal protection of minority group to ensure equal rights for all genders.