04-26-1995 - Episode 268 - Women of Achievement and Herstory

      "Language is real.  It is powerful.  It defines existence.  What
we allow ourselves to be called is how we allow the world to view us.
      "I doubt that few thinking adults would quarrel with my
condemnation of addressing any female by the generic, "Hey you
bi*ch!"  It is harder to explain the more subtle reasons why only
close family members should address a female over the age of 12 as
"Honey" or "sweetheart."  The reason is that keeping females 'cute'
by calling them endearing names is a very effective way of keeping
them powerless.
      "The generic grouping of females by language into either 'cute'
groups or 'sex' groups denies their identity as individuals.  The
effect of this is damaging to males because it teaches them to view
females as less than people.  More disastrous is the effect on females
because they learn to view themselves as beings without individual
self-worth...
      "Females are not anybody's 'honey,' 'sweetheart,' 'bi*ch,' 'ho,'
or 'slop.'  First and last, a psychologically healthy female belongs
only to herself. Any act that is destructive to her self-worth is
destructive to her humanity."
            -- Matilda Buchanan, English teacher, Central High
School, Little Rock, Arkansas.

04-26 Anniversaries ...............................................

      Event 04-26-1877, on the night of April 26, 1877, Sybil
Ludington, age 16, rode through towns in New York and Connecticut
warning that the Redcoats were coming, the redcoats were coming to
Danbury, CN. All Paul Reverish, except she actually gathered enough
volunteers to help beat back the British the next day.  Her ride was
twice the distance of Revere.  Her hometown was renamed after her.

      B. 04-26-1886, Gertrude Pridgett "Ma" Rainey, one of the true
greats of the Negro Minstrel show when it was a true art form. 
Recorded at least 92 songs as a blues singer but was eclipsed by
Bessie Smith.  She is gradually being recognized as an important
influence in the transition from Afro-American music to jazz.

      B. 04-26-1908, Gale Wilhelm*, author of the lesbian classics We
Too Are Drifting and Torchlight to Valhalla both published by
mainline New York publishers.  "She wanted to melt and pour herself
around Morgen like wax."

      B. 04-26-1922, Jeanne Sauve, 23rd Governor-General of Canada
and the first woman (1984). Involved in several reform groups and
from 1942 to 1947, served as president of Young Catholic Students, a
reform group and worked as a union organizer after her marriage,
then began her career as a broadcast journalist, interviewer, and
commentator. She was eventually invited to run for office on the
Liberal party ticket and was easily elected to the House of Commons
in 1972. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau made her a Cabinet member.
In 1980 she was appointed the first woman speaker of the House of
Commons. After a turbulent term in that position, she was named
governor-general in 1984 for a five-year term that ended in January
1990. She died Jan. 26, 1993.  

      B. 04-26-1933, Carol Burnett, comedian, singer, actor, one of the
great entertainment marvels of our era.

Quotes du jour ...............................................

      "Like their personal lives, women's history is fragmented,
interrupted; a shadow history of human beings whose existence has
been shaped by the efforts and the demands of others."
            --Elizabeth Janeway in _Women: Their Changing Roles.  


(C) 1995 Irene Stuber, PO Box 6185, Hot Springs National Park, AR
71902, irenestuber@delphi.com. Distribute verbatim copies freely with
copyright notice for non-profit use. Don't let anyone tell you there
weren't notable and effective women throughout history.  They were
always there, but historians failed to note them in our histories so
that each generation of women has had to reinvent themselves.