Growing Up from Another Perspective: The Countermovement.

The countermovement to the women's liberation movement has been varied both in origin and organization and has been slow in making its impact. Presented in this paper is an analysis of several countermovement strategies which focus upon the issues of opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion law reform, and arguments about the nature of woman. The rhetoric of countermovement organizations such as Pussycats, Females Opposed to Equality, and Happiness of Womanhood is examined and discussed in relation to these issues. The issues of argument validity, the extent to which the rhetors of the countermovement understand and refute the arguments advanced by the movement women, identifying the dominant strategies for gaining publicity, and converting potential members to the ideals of the countermovement are analyzed by the author. It is concluded that by attacking superficial failures of the movement, exaggerating and misinterpreting movement issues, and misunderstanding what American women want and think, the countermovement has failed to come to grips with the essence of the movement. (Author/LG)