Feminism | Posted by Talia on 11/12/2012

Phyllis Schlafly: Groundbreaker?

Phyllis Schlafly



Given the above description, I think it’s impossible to call Schlafly a groundbreaker for women’s rights. For some reason, makers.com seems to disagree.


My mentor, National Organization for Women (NOW) cofounder Sonia Pressman Fuentes, was extremely disturbed by this gross misrepresentation. She asked Betsy West and Dyllan McGee, the producers of makers.com and the filmmakers of the forthcoming documentary based on it, to remove Schlafly from the website and film. They refused, deciding to twice change the definition of Groundbreakers until they settled on the one quoted above. Although the newest definition of a Groundbreaker includes those who opposed women’s rights, it still makes no sense. “Since when are those who oppose progress considered groundbreakers?” Ms. Fuentes asks.

Additionally, although makers.com claims to include women alive today who were instrumental in changing women’s status during the last 50 years, the website and documentary do not include a single one of the nine living NOW cofounders. “This is unconscionable,” Ms. Fuentes said. When Ms. Fuentes complained about Schlafly’s inclusion and the noticeable dearth of NOW members, Betsy West offered to interview her several times in a clear effort to buy her off. Ms. Fuentes declined to be interviewed until Schlafly is taken off of makers.com, or at the very least switched from the status of Groundbreaker to something more accurate, like “opposition.”

To urge PBS and AOL (makers.com’s sponsors) to remove Schlafly from makers.com or, at least, remove her from the designation of Groundbreaker, Ms. Fuentes and I made an online petition (which you can sign here). We’ve gotten a lot of support in a short amount of time, and that means so much to the both of us. However, to get the attention of makers.com, PBS, and AOL we need we need to make this thing huge. Send the link to your friends, family, neighbors, and any organizations with which you are affiliated or that you think would be interested in this issue. Understanding the history of women’s rights is essential to ending gender inequality. Unless we ensure herstory is preserved correctly in websites and documentaries like makers.com, how can we expect to learn from the past and improve the future?

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  • Claire @ at 10:32 pm, December 14th, 2012

    I’m a 16-year-old feminist and freshman year we had to do a project on civil rights in the latter half of the 20th century. I saw her name on the list and thought “Oh, she’s female, so she’s gotta be a feminist like me!” I was way wrong. It only took me one google search to change my mind and research Russell Means instead.

    Ugh, she and I live in the same city, (St. Louis) and I see her damn family’s beer everywhere. :/

  • The Round-Up: Nov. 13, 2012 | Gender Focus – A Canadian Feminist Blog @ at 2:03 pm, February 9th, 2013

    [...] Makers.com has listed Phyllis Schlafly as a “groundbreaker for women’s rights”. The fbomb has the info, including how you can register your [...]

  • Bernadette @ at 2:43 pm, January 16th, 2014

    I personally enjoy what Phylis has done for women. I strive to be as strong and independent as Mrs. Schlafly one day. I share the same views and agree that they are both accurate as well as intellectual.

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