Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, died last week, as most of you no doubt know. On The Thinking Housewife, Laura Wood uses the occasion as an opportunity to bash lesbians, feminism, and Ride herself. Wood begins her most unusual eulogy by quoting Gloria Steinem, who once said of Ride:
“Millions of little girls are going to sit by their television sets and see they can be astronauts, heroes, explorers and scientists.”
Wood scoffs at the very notion, suggesting that
Steinem’s real point, in keeping with her intense dislike of women, was that women should want to be astronauts and there was something wrong with them if they didn’t.
So we’re off to a great start here. Wood then offers this patronizing assessment of Ride’s life – which nonetheless turns out to be the nicest thing she says about the legendary astronaut.
Ride, who had a warm, radiant smile and is said to have served ably in her two missions in space, died Monday at the age of 61.
After this bit of faint praise, Wood moves on to her main point: Ride was lesbian, and therefore a terrible person, so she’ll quickly be forgotten.
For all the fanfare that once surrounded it, Ride’s story will likely fade into history and her life ultimately inspire very few girls. This will be so not only because women do not excel at space science or the physical demands of space travel as men do but also because, as Ride’s obituary proved, she did not lead a full life. Ride was in a lesbian relationship with a childhood friend for 27 years.
Yep, apparently lesbians don’t live “full lives,” whatever that means. Are women only living “full lives” if they are filled up on at least a semi-regular basis with their husband’s penis?
Wood continues:
To her credit, Ride did not make her lesbianism public and was private about her personal life in general. Her sister and the woman with whom she had a relationship, Tam O’Shaughnessy, have released the information to the world and now Ride has the double distinction of being both the first woman and the first lesbian in space. O’Shaughnessy was Ride’s friend since the age of 12. Ride was briefly married to another astronaut, but they were divorced. So while Ride accomplished much in her career, thanks in part to the spirit of affirmative action, she seems to have never fully emerged from childhood.
Huh? Are lesbians inherently childish, or is Ride supposed to have been a perpetual “child” because she married her childhood friend?
Then Wood says one of the strangest things I’ve ever heard:
The only good reason for a normal woman to go through the grueling rigors of becoming an astronaut is that NASA is a great place to meet men.
Sorry, but I’ve got to pull out the Don Draper gif again: What?
Wood elaborates:
Ride’s life, however, does not even offer that slim hope to little girls, that wonderful compensation for dreary days in a control cabin. Ride flew into space but never experienced other thrills that are as great or far greater. She never gave a man such necessary and life-sustaining love that he was able to do great things, such as fly into space.
So apparently the real, true purpose of becoming a female astronaut isn’t to fly into space, but to inspire the dude you’ve married to fly into space?
She never looked up at the stars with her own children and encouraged their wonder. She did not pass on her love of space to a son or daughter or grandchild.
I guess inspiring girls around the world doesn’t count? (And I can only imagine that the thought of Ride now inspiring gay children strikes Wood with dread.)
Though she performed capably in her public position as a Role Model of the Century, Sally Ride’s example will likely be the exact opposite of what NASA and Gloria Steinem predicted. She will serve as a reminder of at least some of the very good reasons why women don’t want to be astronauts.
Because becoming an astronaut might make them lesbian?
The vast majority of women would sooner love an astronaut than be one. And given that most men are destined to perform inglorious jobs for most of their lives, women will come to see that the dream of conquering space rightly belongs to men.
A lot of men do crap jobs, so therefore only men should be astronauts? I can’t even pretend to understand the logic here.
Here’s Ride’s web site, and her official obituary.
While just about everything the Thinking Housewife said here was vile, this line stood out to me as particularly asinine.
Lesbians don’t lead a full life? Well, of course, no woman could possibly lead a fulfilling life without having a penis stuck up their vagina.
Except Sally Ride was married to a man at one point. So it seems like there’s a good chance that she did have sex with a man. I suppose the reason that she divorced him and spent the rest of her life with a woman was that heterosexual sex was just too fulfilling for her to handle. Just having been married and having sex with a man isn’t actually enough in the Thinking Housewife’s eyes, I guess. You have to stay in that marriage and keep having sex with a man for the rest of your life to be truly fulfilled, no matter whether or not you enjoy it.
The Thinking Housewife must have a really weird definition of “fulfilled.”
Women don’t excel at space science? Well, that’s painfully wrong. But this is just the typical “women suck at STEM” whine, so it’s not particularly surprising either. It seems a bit stupid to bring up that particular talking point when talking about a woman who happened to excel at space science though. Way to undermine your own point.
Women can’t meet the physical demands of space travel? Again, I think it’s rather counterproductive for the Thinking Housewife to try to make the point that women suck at something while specifically discussing a woman who excelled at it. Moreover, I’ve heard that female bodies are actually often better suited to meet the physical demands of space travel than male bodies are. (Mind you, I don’t remember where I got that particular piece of information, so take that with a grain of salt. Does anyone here know whether or not it’s legitimate?)
Cliff, I was blocking how much Crash sucked until you brought it up.
I have heard similar–something to do with our centers of gravity being better suited to zero gravity. Can’t remember where though.
>Why would you want to be an Astronaut’s Wife?
Especially whe you can be a Time Traveller’s wife instead. Though I must confess that I never bothered to finish the book.
Anathema: Clearly all women want the same thing: a husband and children and keeping the home and no silly “job” thing. Including lesbians! The female hivemind works THAT WELL.
Oh, this idiot again? Someone needs to make a regendered version of the “you are a strange sad little man” clip just for her.
“The only good reason for a normal woman to go through the grueling rigors of becoming an astronaut is that NASA is a great place to meet men. ”
Can I be as bitchy as she is, just for a second? Oh honey, if you have to go all the way to NASA and through the astronaut training program just to meet men, and the only way you can make yourself appealing to a man is if you’re the only woman he’s seen in months…
Also!
“The vast majority of women would sooner love an astronaut than be one. And given that most men are destined to perform inglorious jobs for most of their lives, women will come to see that the dream of conquering space rightly belongs to men.”
Well, Laura, I hate to say it, but in your case I think your philosophy is correct and dreaming big was not a good plan for you. Certainly it’s clear that you’re not cut out to be a writer, given how little sense that last section makes. Maybe you should have had hubby write it for you?
Oh Cassandra, it makes perfect sense!
On a planet where women define their entire lives by men, and don’t have shitty jobs.
Maybe the thinking housewife should become an astronaut so she can go find that planet and live there.
Women are on average smaller and eat less, so they’re a bit cheaper to launch and can maneuver a little better in tight spaces. Although obviously there are plenty of small men and NASA still sends up a lot of burly fellas, so it’s probably not all that important? You’d think they’d all be built like jockeys.
Oh dear…really? Why must she piss in the pool? An inspiring woman died relatively young and so this is a PERFECT time to say that she was unfulfilled, childish, and wrong for doing what she loved.
Damnit, people (men and women) all over talk themselves out of doing what they really want to do. Don’t rip on someone who had the guts to do it. If you wanna be a SAHM, be the best SAHM you can be. If you don’t want to be a SAHM, but are, don’t tell every woman who isn’t that she’s “doing it wrong.”
Ratio of anti-feminists who have attributed this position to feminists vs feminists who have argued this: 1000:1
But hey everything is already equal so when women challenge the housewife box they’re actually just putting down other women’s choices. Uh-huh.
I thought the message of Crash was “It’s okay to be racist because everybody else is.”
“Dislike of women?”
Projection, Lawrence?
Contact also has a religious dude who’s not totally wrong and inferior to the MC’s Enlightened Atheistness, so I really don’t know what Ruby likes about it.
I remain puzzled at the apparent fact that Ms. Housewife doesn’t want to be an astronaut. I mean. SPACE.
Seriously, who doesn’t want to be an astronaut?
I guess it’s the fact that the Aliens decide to frame the MCs space adventures as a religious experience to the eyes of all outside observers.
I hindsight, I don’t know if I as a viewer am supposed to find such a basic communication failure on the first contact funny or sad.
Everybody want’s to creep around in space. It’s the work involved to get there that’s the problem. NASA’s got it’s quota thingy goin on. Last year special girl only classes were implemented so women don’t have to compete. They just up and get slots.
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@Anathema
“Moreover, I’ve heard that female bodies are actually often better suited to meet the physical demands of space travel than male bodies are. (Mind you, I don’t remember where I got that particular piece of information, so take that with a grain of salt. Does anyone here know whether or not it’s legitimate?)”
I’m sure there’s a study. There’s always a study saying women are better at everything. My favorite studies about women being better at something are when it comes to sympathy and caring. Those gals love to really rub it in on how much more sympathetic and caring the ladettes are. Nothing says sympathy and caring like women telling men they suck at sympathy and caring.
Kakanian: Seriously; what’s wrong with a good old-fashioned “Take me to your leader?”
It’s been ages since I read Contact so I’m not sure if I remember it exactly but did they really set it up to be like a religious experience or was it a case of “any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”?
Seriously, if I make it all the way through NASA to become an astronaut, I’ll be looking for alien species, not a husband thanks.
Women are inferior to men in space because men can still get a woman knocked up, but its highly debateable that women could have a viable baby in space. Silly feminists…how could you forget that?
Also, women deal with g forces to get into space better than men. We aren’t fainiting all the time. That’s about the only benefit I’ve heard of between the sexes.
Fucking homophobic asshole. Can’t even respect the deads.
I’m a huge fan of Carl Sagan’s. I have Cosmos on DVD. I’ve read his The Demon-Haunted World.
But anyway…I have this vision in my head. Laura Wood is in her house dress and apron. With the wooden spoon gripped tightly in her hand, she smacks the fingers of little girls reaching for the stars, and yells, “Back to the kitchen!!!”
Don’t worry though,Housewife will start glorifying women space traveling just as soon as a colony of men gets set up and they realize they need a woman to warm their food and their bed. I mean that’s why women marry astronauts rigt?
Now that was actually funny Ruby!
“The only good reason for a normal woman to go through the grueling rigors of becoming an astronaut is that NASA is a great place to meet men. ”
This sounds like the setup for one of those Silver Age romance comics.
There are lots of kids who are more mature than to believe that everyone is just like them. What is her problem?