Repeal of 'Woman Slander' Law Sought

[Kire]

Repeal of 'Woman Slander' Law Sought
Mon Jan 24, 2:47 PM ET

By REBECCA COOK, Associated Press Writer

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Go ahead, call state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles a scurvy wench, a wanton strumpet, a shameless hussy. She probably won't like it, but she doesn't want you to be prosecuted for it.

The Seattle Democrat is sponsoring a bill to repeal a 1909 Washington state law that makes "slander of a woman" a crime.

It is not that Kohl-Welles, a women's studies lecturer at the University of Washington, wants to hear women slandered. But she believes the law is a relic of a time when men put women on a pedestal and denied them basic rights.

"This is one of those old laws that is really irrelevant now," Kohl-Welles said. She added that it almost surely violates the state and federal constitutions.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050124/ap_on_re_us/slander_of_women