A Different Look At Women’s Studies

When the panelists on Accuracy in Academia’s (AIA) summer conference panel on “women’s studies” took a shot at answering the question, “What do women want?,” they gave answers that few college professors would give an “A” to. (Pictured: women’s studies panelist Star Parker.)

“I spoke at Wellesley, Hillary Clinton’s alma mater, and if that’s any indication of what women’s studies are like, then (a.) don’t take them, and (b.) tear them down,” author Star Parker told the crowd.

Unlike the typical college women’s studies curriculum, which champions feminists such as Gloria Steinem, this panel at AIA’s annual July conference addressed issues of concern to women—and men—with more traditional values.

Parker, founder and president of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education, captivated the audience with her speech on “what women want.” “Women want security, they want a strong family life, and they want commitment,” she said.

In terms of marriage, Parker believes that married women are more secure and also more likely to favor a limited government. “Women who aren’t married are more concerned with childcare, with healthcare… because they’re concerned with everything,” she said.

Opposing the welfare state and Democrats’ desire to create special interest groups, Parker feels a better solution is to “offer more choice and opportunity” in terms of healthcare and schooling.

A single mother formerly on welfare, Parker told the crowd that the solution to poverty is not a welfare state. “The answer to poverty is freedom and responsibility,” she said.

Parker believes the breakdown of the family is a major problem facing society today.

“Today, women are more concerned with what they can get their kids rather than teaching them values,” she said. “Life’s meaning today is about acquisition. What we see in inner cities reflects the moral decline of society.”

Following the idea that women want security and stability, Parker opposes the Roe v. Wade decision as federal law. The message of “children as choice” breeds instability, she said, with serious implications for our nation and our families.

Jessica Echard, director of Eagle Forum Collegians, relayed to the crowd her experiences from the “March for Women’s Lives,” a pro-choice rally she attended this past April as a silent pro-life protestor.

“They couldn’t understand that we didn’t come to disrupt anything,” Echard said. “At one point we were just silently praying and here comes drums and massive protestors. One girl even pulled up her skirt and pointed to her crotch.”

Other abortion-rights activists taunted Echard and her fellow protestors with chants such as “Anti-choice, Anti-gay, Religious Right Go Away” and “2, 4, 6, 8, Everybody Masturbate.”

In addition to the chants, vulgar signs permeated the crowd with sayings such as “Another Slut for Choice,” “The Only Bush I Trust is My Own,” and “If Only Barbara Bush would have had a Choice.”

“I just wondered what happened to them to make them so hateful,” Echard said. “They more than vilified President Bush. No human being should ever be attacked that way.”

On college campuses, many women’s centers only offer pamphlets for organizations such as Planned Parenthood, ignoring the option of faith-based counseling, according to Echard.

The problem with our generation is that people are constantly trying to get us into a pro-abortion mindset, she said.

For those who want to change the status quo, Echard advises students to research local faith-based counseling centers and other alternatives to abortion, and then inform their campus women’s center of these options.

Echard also advises students to speak up in class and make their views heard. One way of doing this is by suggesting new curriculum, since women’s studies courses generally focus on feminist literature, such as the works of Gloria Steinem.

And perhaps most importantly: students can write articles and publicize the truth about “wacky liberal” protests.

Abortion-rights activists expect us to be silent, Echard said. They don’t expect us to document their marches and show what their fight is all about. “They are pro-choice America, but we are pro-life America,” she said.

Meggie Sramek is a Washington, D. C.-based freelance writer.