Don’t listen to what the Far Right’s words say; pay attention to what their policies say.
The Far Right claims that it’s devoted to saving marriage. But, in reality, they must think that marriage — at least as they envision it — to be so appalling that women would succumb to it if only all their other options are eliminated. That’s a pretty dismal view of marriage!
After a big drop, the marriage rate remains about the same as in the 1980s. But the Far Right remains distressed at the quality of marriage. When the Right fantasizes about the 1960s and 1970s, of course, they’re dreaming of a time when Black and Brown people didn’t have any rights. But they’re also fantasizing about a time when women didn’t have any rights.
Obviously, the Far Right opposes marriage equality and doesn’t appreciate women making demands in marriage. They are promoting so-called “trad wives,” women who stay home and devote themselves to husband and children without a thought about anything else. They want homeschooling and wives who submit to their husbands.
Despite the propaganda, the trad-wife movement isn’t getting very far. That’s probably because trad wives have no protection in case their husband moves on to a younger model. And a little domestic violence isn’t any reason for a woman to get out of the marriage. By eliminating no-fault divorce, there’s no escape hatch. YouTuber Stephen Crowder was incensed that his wife could divorce him without getting his permission. (I couldn’t make this up!)
That’s why the Far Right insists on closing what it sees as loopholes for women.
- Without abortion (and now birth control, too), women can’t limit the size of their families, which is what allowed women to get into the workplace in large numbers.
- Without protections against sexual harassment and pay inequities, women won’t be able to earn enough to leave a marriage or not marry in the first place.
- Without laws against domestic violence and marital rape, women won’t be able to be a voice in their own families.
- Without no-fault divorce, women can’t decide their own fates.
And that, the Far Right believes, is what marriage is all about — something so terrible that you have to force women into marriage and force them to stay there by removing their options.
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