Cole GreenbergFeminism EssayWomen should not be considered a minority, and therefore they should not be afforded legal minority rights because women do not experience prejudice like other minorities, and women have advanced in society in the past. It is not necessary to label women as a minority and give them protective rights since they are not in desperate need of change. Rather than create a separate standard for women driven by legal minority rights, it would be more effective to grant equal rights to all women. The only tool that women need to succeed in the world is equal rights rather than minority rights to single them out as weak, and in need of assistance. Whereas Schafly wanted nothing to do with ERA, Brown miller would have driven for stronger legislation than the ERA .The equal rights amendment created in 1923 by Alice Paul was designed to gift equal justice under law to all citizens ("The ERA: A Brief"). Mrs. Paul leader of the National Womens Party introduced the act into every congress session for 49 years, but sadly when the smoke cleared the act had been ratified by 35 states, only three short of the required number. The act requested that there be no discrimination based on sex, and that women were to be given full equality under the law of the United States of America. But sadly no matter how many times the righteous ideals were introduced into congress opposing political activist, Phyllis Schlafly was there to stop it. While facing off against Phyllis Schlafly and her Eagle Forum the ERA enjoyed the political momentum of what appeared to be inevitable victory ("A Short History of E.R.A."). Although Phyllis Schlafly won the battle her main stance claimed that the ERA would actually take away more rights than it would give, along with the side point that In America we really don't believe in group rights, (Sachs). According to Mrs. Schlafly. Schlafly believed that it was un-American to gift women special rights, and she believed strongly that it was womans job to attend to her husband. Obviously these points were enough to gather up enough support, mainly of conservative, religious, and anti- gay women to stop the ratification of the amendment. In opposition of Mrs. Schlaflys hate for the ERA there were also activists who held similar views to Susan Brownmiller. Brownmiller would have not only given her full support for the ERA movement but would have wanted minority rights in place, or some other legislation passed the ERA. Brownmiller believed that our countrys culture was designed to self-replicate the idea of male self-superiority. According to her the majority of our movies, television, commercials, and even in textbooks are designed with this intention and are Simply demeaning, to a womens dignity and self-conception. (Brownmiller [Page 389]). She demanded that these forms of free speech portraying the female as a passive sex object, be banned or censored. Not only this but along with equal rights she demanded that the police department be forcefully integrated to strip away male dominance and control, (Brownmiller [Page 388]). In reality this is a little more forceful than equal rights which is not needed. It is the right of an employer to hire his employees regardless of gender. The passing of the ERA would be the perfect middle ground between these two opposing sides, Schlafly with her distaste of womens rights and Brownmiller with her extreme feminist views.Women should not be treated as a minority since they dont face widespread discrimination, and many of the examples of free speech thought to be hate speech toward women like pornography are not in fact hate speech. Susan Brownmillers philosophy that pornography is hate speech directed at women is wrong and is an attempt to silence free speech. That Hate speech is regarded differently from free speech as the law against hate speech says a person cannot utter a racial or ethnic epithet to another if those words are likely to cause the listener to react violently, ("Students in Action"). Pornography is private content that was not created to offend or cause the audience to react violently. It is the right of the creators to film the content and upload it to the internet without it being taken down. The figures in the pornographic content are creating the material voluntarily and therefore giving their consent to the camera workers to use it. Hate speech is often targeted toward minorities, and since women should not be treated as a minority it would be pointless to treat entertainment products like pornography as both hate speech, and hate content directed at women. Women have come pretty far in our country to date without the aid of the ERA or other massive legislative moves, and since the ERA has passed us, women have found their own path toward equality, over the past 30 years. We have women running for president, running corporations, serving on the police force, and doing their patriotic duty in the army. There is no need to implement minority rights that would all but segregate them from the general population by labeling them a minority. Womens place has grown in society but that doesnt mean that they should be hired just to fill a job quota rather their qualifications meeting the job criteria. Women must not be treated as a minority, or given minority rights since there is no need for more legislation than that to assure equal rights for a women to succeed. Woman are not prejudiced against in pornography, as it is not hate speech directed towards anyone, and woman have advanced in society for many years without special protections in place. Stronger opportunities for women should be what activists strive for, not legal minority rights.

Works CitedBrownmiller, Susan. Against Our Will. N.p.: Martin Secker & Warburg, 1975. Print.

"The ERA: A Brief Introduction." ERA: Overview. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2015. .

Sachs, Andrea. "Phyllis Schlafly at 84." Time. N.p., 7 Apr. 2009. Web. 29 Apr. 2015. .

"A Short History of E.R.A." Eagle Forum. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2015. .

"Students in Action." Student Central. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2015. .