July 11, 1995 - Episode 347 - Women of Achievement and Herstory

            A new day in confronting the evil of rape was begun July 11,
     1989, when the Des Moines (Iowa) _Register_, editor Geneva
     Overholser questioned whether the media should publish the names of
     rape victims.
            Noting that it was her paper's policy not to publish this
     information, Ms. Overholser explained why the policy troubled her: 
            "I believe that we will not break down the stigma [associated
     with being a victim of rape] until more and more women take public
     stands. . . . Rape is an American shame. Our society needs to see
     that and attend to it, not hide it or hush it up."  She urged women
     "who have suffered this awful crime and attendant injustice to speak
     out."
            On February 25 of the following year the first of five articles
     by Jane Schorer appeared in the _Register_ chronicling the abduction
     and rape of Nancy Ziegenmayer.
            Ms. Ziegenmayer volunteered to tell her story using her real
     name after reading Geneva Overholser's editorial.
            The articles won a Pulitzer Prize for the _Register_.
            Nancy Ziegenmayer maintained that each rape victim must
     choose whether she comes forward and she must choose the time,
     emphasizing that every woman recovers at a different rate. 
            -- Information based on material in _The American Woman_,
     1992-93 and the Nancy Ziegenmayer book. I found the Ziegenmayer
     book extremely moving, the TV less so because of its ending
     segments.    Editor Geneva Overholser is the younger sister of Duke
     University president Nannerl Overholser Keohane.  She has since
     resigned the _Register_ because of its changing editorial direction.
     (Anyone out there know what she's doing now?)

     07-11 .................................................

            Event 07-11-1656, after five weeks of imprisonment to see if
     they were witches, the first two Quakers - Ann Austin and Mary
     Fisher - were allowed into Massachusetts Colony.  Their books were
     burned by the local hangman before their release.

            B. 07-11-1819, Susan Bogert Warner, remarkably prolific and
     popular author said to be the first American author to sell a million
     copies of one book, collaborated on several with her sister Anna
     Bartlett Warner (08-31-1827), who was also a writer.

            B. 07-11-1854, Georgiana Emma Drew Barrymore*, actor. Her
     remarkable and very distinguished stage career was interrupted
     three times to birth Lionel, Ethel, and John, all distinguished actors
     in the legendary theatrical dynasty.

            Event July 11, 1953, France E. Willis becomes the first woman
     career diplomat to be appointed an ambassador, and the third woman
     ambassador in US history. Willis served as Ambassador to
     Switzerland.

            Event July 11, 1989: In an agreement forced by the National
     Association for the Advancement of Colored People, The Chrysler
     Corporation agreed to double (to 20 percent) the number of minorities
     and women in management.
     Quotes du jour ................................................

            "One reason for (women's) relative passivity is that the
     peasantry lived in 'frightful physical wretchedness' that was
     probably more wretched for women than for men because men
     considered themselves entitled to a larger share of the scare food
     (available)."
            -- Guttman, Allen. _Women's Sports, a history_.  New York:
     Columbia University Press, 1991.  ISBN 0-231-06956-1.

            ................................................

     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. 

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     >>(C) 1995 Irene Stuber, PO Box 6185, Hot Springs National Park, AR
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