The IWF is actually an extremely right-wing, anti-feminist group that was ORGANIZED TO DEFEND CLARENCE THOMAS! They are obviously trying to stir up as much trouble as possible. I do think a couple of those cartoons were racist, but definitely not all of them. Criticism is deserved for the ones that are racist, but I think it is important to consider the source of some of this criticism before everyone blows a gasket:
Independent Women's Forum
P.O. Box 3058
Arlington, Virginia 22203-0058
www.iwf.org and www.shethinks.org
Established: 1992
President & CEO: Nancy Mitchell Pfotenhauer
IWF's National Advisory Board Chairman: Christina Hoff Sommers
Finances: $1.3 million (2002 budget)
Publications: The Women’s Quarterly, Ex Femina newsletter, Shethinks magazine, and issue reports.
IWF's Principal Issues:
IWF's Activities:
IWF’s connections to the Bush Administration:
About IWF’s Right-Wing Members and Supporters:
IWF Quotes:
Major Right-Wing Donors to IWF, 1994-2001:
IWF's Principal Issues:
IWF is an anti-feminist women’s organization founded to counter the influence of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and “radical feminists” on society.
Frequent targets: Title IX funding, affirmative action, the Violence Against Women Act, full integration of women in the military, and those who oppose President Bush’s controversial judicial nominees.
Opposes the United Nation’s Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
IWF’s credo/mission: “The Independent Women's Forum provides a voice for American women who believe in individual freedom and personal responsibility. We have made that voice heard in the U.S. Supreme Court, among decision makers [sic] in Washington, and across America's airwaves. It is the voice of reasonable women with important ideas who embrace common sense over divisive ideology.”
IWF was organized in defense of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas during his controversial nomination hearings.
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IWF's Activities:
To raise awareness about their ideas in the media and through its speakers bureau, made up of their high profile, often controversial members and supporters.
“Taking Back the Campus” project which focuses on helping “students inundated with rigid political correctness,” includes “She Thinks” webmagazine.
IWF frequently makes the case that it is men and boys, not women and girls, who suffer due to gender-based discrimination in American society.
Rejects the idea of pay inequities between men and women and that there are “glass ceilings” in the workplace.
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IWF’s connections to the Bush Administration:
Board Member Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor, Bush Administration
Board Member Linda Chavez, Secretary of Labor nominee, President of Center for Equal Opportunity
IWF Director Emeritae Lynne Cheney
IWF’s CEO Nancy Pfotenhauer, appointed by Bush to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women
Board Member Pat Ware, Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS
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About IWF’s Right-Wing Members and Supporters:
Christina Hoff Sommers, IWF’s National Advisory Board Chairman
Sommers is currently a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and the author of two controversial books “The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men” and “Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women.” Sommers has been published in Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, USA Today, the National Review, New Republic, Weekly Standard, and the Chicago Tribune.
Board Members and their political connections:
Grace-Marie Arnett Turner, Galen Institute, President
Karlyn Bowman, American Enterprise Institute
Elaine Donnelly, Center for Military Readiness, President
Kay Hymowitz, Manhattan Institute
Laura Ingraham, author, national radio personality
Leo Kocher, National Coalition for Athletics Equity, Board President
Nancie Marzulla, Defenders of Property Rights, President
Jennifer Morse, Hoover Institute, Research Fellow
Kate O’Beirne, National Review
Lisa Schiffren, author, former speechwriter for Dan Quayle
Abigail Thernstrom, Manhattan Institute
Carolyn Weaver, American Enterprise Institute
Charmaine Crouse Yoest, Olin and Bradley Fellow, former Contributing Editor at the Heritage Foundation, former Deputy Director of Public Policy for the Family Research Council, and worked for the Reagan Administration.
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IWF Quotes:
“In my book, Who Stole Feminism, I question the basic premise of the contemporary American feminist movement: that American women are oppressed. I do not believe that women in contemporary American society are oppressed; they do not constitute a subordinate class. I believe American women are among the freest and most liberated in the world. It is no longer reasonable to say that as a group women are worse off than men.” –Christina Hoff Sommers, “Sex, Lies, and Feminism” speech, University of Chicago, January 2003.
“Our nation’s Founders would be proud of the work and ideals of the Independent Women’s Forum. This is a group of dedicated and caring women committed to the principles of individual freedom and personal responsibility for everyone…I am optimistic about the opportunities younger generations of women will have because of the path that was cleared by women like those in the Independent Women’s Forum. Together, we can make changes that are in the best interests of all working women.” –Secretary Elaine Chao, April 2001 statement
“One of the most important of the institutions captured by the Left is the Supreme Court. For the last half century, the Court has been a revolutionary force in American culture and politics, taking the lead in remaking America. For example, in past terms, there have been decisions defining the family, protecting pornography, adopting rules rendering it virtually impossible to prosecute obscenity, refusing states the authority to support all-male military academies, creating special rights for homosexuals, limiting school disciplinary procedures, and banishing religion from public life. And, of course, inventing a right to abortion.” --Robert Bork, writing for Ex Feminia newsletter, October 2000
“Without a doubt, the definition of feminism is controversial. What started with the gutsy Susan B. Anthony morphed itself into the The Feminine Mystique and eventually degenerated into a movement of hypocritical, male-bashing libertines.” – from shethinks.org
“Women went to college, the old joke went, to get their "Mrs." Now they can attend conferences in kinky sex and S&M, or take courses in lesbian and gay studies--and that is not a joke. “ –Candice deRussy, “Sex and Bondage 101”
“[T]o the extent there is any hope at all of arresting America's moral decay, conservative elites must take the lead not only in lamenting the consequences of the sexual revolution, but in actually enforcing a sense of shame. Enforcement, moreover, may mean more than judgmental gossip. It also may mean sanctions ranging from chilly social greetings to total social ostracism and even loss of a job.”- Melinda Ledden Sidak, “Not at My Table”
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Major Right-Wing Donors to IWF, 1994-2001:
Total grants received: $2.9 million
Top 5 givers:
Sarah Scaife Foundation, $1.2 million
Olin Foundation $700,000
Bradley Foundation, $420,000
Carthage Foundation, $300,000
Castle Rock Foundation, $100,000
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