Women's History Month - Valentina Tereshkova

Image via fly.historicwings.com.

Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova was the first civilian woman to go into space. She became interested in parachute jumping at an early age and it was her expertise in parachute jumping that led to her selection as a cosmonaut.

Tereshkova was a textile-factory assembly worker and an amateur parachutist when she was recruited into the cosmonaut program. Under the direction Nikita Khrushchev, four women were selected to be trained for a special woman-in-space program.

She was the only one to complete a space mission from her group.

Tereshkova was launched aboard Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963 and became the first woman to fly in space. During the 70.8 hour flight, Vostok 6 made 48 orbits of Earth. Tereshkova was honored with the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

Although she never flew again, Tereshkova did become a spokesperson for the Soviet Union, and received the United Nations Gold Medal of Peace. She served as the president of the Soviet Women's Committee and became a member of the Supreme Soviet, the USSR's national parliament, and the Presidium, a special panel within the Soviet government.

It’s a pretty well documented fact that girls don’t enter STEM fields at the rates that guys do, for various reasons. Which is shame, because literally, there is a universe waiting for adventure.

Lauren
PPRSR VOX Intern

Women's History Month - Isadore Gilbert Mudge

Isadore Gilbert Mudge wanted library patrons to be able to access reference books and learn independently. She devised the phrase “material, mind and method,” and thought all reference librarians should know the materials they dealt with, be intelligent with an excellent memory and be able to answer clearly answer, including the source of material they were using (consequently called the Mudge Method).

Constance M. Winchell, Mudge’s protégé, said, "Probably no other one person has contributed so much to raising the standards of reference collections and reference service in the libraries of this and other countries."

Anyone who has ever done research at a library can thank Mudge that we have a wide variety of resources to use, and that our librarians know what’s what in helping us figure out where to look and how to utilize them.

She also found time to write A Guide to Reference Books, which went through four revisions; two articles for the Library Journal; a Thackery Dictionary; as well as the bibliography for Henri Bergson’s published works. Oh, and she found time to teach part time, in between all of that researching.

Whoever said women couldn’t handle the stress of rigorous research obviously had never met this woman.

Lauren
PPRSR VOX Intern

(Lauren is writing about Women who ROCK in honor of Women's History Month.) 

Implications of Steubenville: Talking about Rape Culture

Did you know that every two minutes a person is sexually assaulted in the United States? Or that one in three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime?

If you’ve been living under a rock the past month or so, or just haven’t been paying attention to the news cycle (it happens to the best of us!), and haven’t heard about Steubenville, I would direct you firstly to the Atlantic’s very thorough article that details the entire situation.

Even now that the verdict is in, Steubenville has tremendous implications for how Americans talk about rape amongst themselves, how rape is reported (especially rape committed by acquaintances) and how we deal with changing the perspectives on a culture that allows these crimes to happen in the first place. 

Two thirds of rapes are committed by someone the victim knows and 38 percent are committed by someone close to them. Perhaps it’s not so shocking then that only 54 percent of rapes are reported to the police. Three percent of rapists will spend a day in jail, and so in some ways a guilty (delinquent) verdict, and the notice of a convening of a grand jury, is justice for Jane Doe. 

Perhaps, and this is a very wishful thinking Lauren, this case will open a larger sustained conversation about victims, how we support them and how we can include men in the larger discussion of “don’t rape.”

It’s not constructive to tell victims that it’s their fault they didn’t think quickly enough; they weren’t defensive enough; their skirts were too short; their heels too tall; whatever it was that they were doing “wrong” (conveniently enough, we’re to do these things in an attempt to conform to the ideal of a “perfect woman”).  This implies it was the victim’s fault and if they had learned how to defend themselves in the first place, it wouldn't have happened. The radical idea that yes means yes, and anything less than consent (if they’re passed out, and not saying yes, you should not pursue) is a radical one in a culture that routinely tells us our choices and desires are not as valuable. But still, it must be taught.

Women already live in fear of being attacked, that the guy who follows down the street will attack us, or that the guy at the bar who didn’t get the hint the first time he grabbed at you won’t get it a second time or a third time. We worry that the people making crass remarks will actually follow through with those comments, and are then told that those comments are actually positive attention and we should be so lucky to be receiving it.

These are the contours of what is deemed acceptable behavior, and woe unto the woman who fails to toe these lines. Rape has a purpose, and that is to silence and to shame those who do not follow the rules so explicitly laid out for them. It’s also intellectually lazy at best to assume that men are not able to control their actions, and not rape. It’s insulting to good men that we know to assume that all men in their natural state are rapists. At the end of the discussion, the onus is on men not to rape, and not on women to avoid being raped.

Don’t think it’s possible to unlearn many of the lessons that we’ve been to accept about consent and interpersonal relationships? Canada’s “Don’t Be That Guy” campaign wound up reducing the rate of sexual assaults by 10 percent in Vancouver, and has proven to be successful enough that it’s been made even more inclusive, and includes representation of the LBGT community, acknowledging that sexual violence occurs in all communities. 

I want to tell you I’m sorry for talking about rape culture all day, every day. So, sorry you’re uncomfortable? Sorry you’re not willing to engage in the kinds of conversations that will lead to the changes that will make it possible for me to NOT have to talk about rape culture? I guess I’m saying I’m really not sorry. That my community and I will continue to talk about rape and rape culture until it changes.  

And that’s really my hope for Steubenville: that the rage it generated is sustainable for change and that Jane Doe can move on, and go on to do awesome things.

Lauren
PPRSR VOX Intern

Women's History Month - Barbara Jordan

Barbara Jordan listening to debate on the impeachment of President Richard 
Nixon, photograph, July 25, 1974, courtesy http://www.visitthecapitol.gov.

Barbara Jordan was the first black women to serve in the Texas Senate, and one of the first black women from the Deep South to serve in the House of Representatives. She was also the first Black state senator to chair a major committee, Labor and Management Relations. She was the first African American woman to give a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, and holds the number five spot on the list of “Top 100 American Speeches of the 20^th Century.”

She was the first freshman senator ever named to the Texas Legislative Council. Known as a champion for the poor, African Americans, and those who are disadvantaged by the system, she sponsored legislation to alleviate their circumstances, most notably the Workman’s Compensation Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Much of her other work was working to balance growing urban needs with the powerful rural interests that dominate her state.

Also, she was kind of a big deal on her debate team, and during her time at Texas Southern University, she defeated opponents from schools such as Yale and Brown and tying Harvard University. Being able to intelligently converse and interact with facts and opinions is an entirely useless and unnecessary talent (said no one ever), especially in Washington’s acerbic climate.

She was the governor of Texas (for a day) and a professor at Tuskegee Institute. She took over the South and decided it wasn’t big enough. Even when she retired, she remained active in politics and made sure that her voice was heard.

Although, being a professor is something I would like to do, so maybe I’m heavily biased towards female academics. And the best part of all this is that she accomplished all these things even when she was discouraged from seeking the best schools (looking at you Harvard and University of Texas-Austin) because of racial policies, and losing races in 1962 and 1964 races before she was elected into the Texas House.

Although, being governor does sound pretty awesome, and if there is one thing we need in the American body politic right now, it would definitely be more strong women’s voices.

More on Barbara Jordan
Barbara Jordan on impeachment 

Lauren
VOX Intern

PPRSR

(Lauren is writing about Women who ROCK in honor of Women's History Month.)