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.
NWO, how does saying that height is the biggest factor in g force tolerance, and that women are often smaller in height and mass amount to glorifying women above men?
I know its not normal to hear about a womans phsyiology having some advantage mens bodies don’t have, but really.
There are some smaller men in the world, small enough to share the same benefits in g force tolerance. What’s more, men who are big and burly aren’t discriminated against as astronauts (though I do think the airforce has maximum height restrictions?). NASA and the military are working on suits and training (pilots get taught how to resist the effects of g force) to increase g force tolerance. So just this once technology is being adapted to compensate for a slightly lower tolerance that men will have on average.
David, I need me some kitty pictures. Where are the new babies?
There’s so many problems with this, but one that no one pointed out is that Ride wasn’t the first woman in space! Valentina Tereshkova, you guys!!!!
Ok, So I have a penis and would likely end up bringing it to the space party, what would happen if I tried wearing a space-mini?
Huh, I could have sworn someone pointed that out already in this thread, but I can’t find it.
My comments-fu is weak.
Falconer: I don’t know about on this thread, but someone did point it out on the original I think.
@Falconer, I was sure someone would have, but I searched and couldn’t find it. Sorry, I just get unreasonably upset at people whose default assumption is that ‘murica is first at everything.
Leslie: Especially in the space race, where we were first at practically nothing. (But we got the big one, so there!)
Crys wrote: “I am ever more convinced that The Thinking Housewife is a poe. Despite the stupid garbled rants that come out of the other MRA websites you quote, this one drips with a condescension-served-with-honey that I can’t believe is honest.”
pecunium wrote: “She is gleeful that someone didn’t manage to attain a dream (the smiley face at the end of “I am sorry you were unable to realize your dream.”, is just a bit of the gratuitously nasty).
She is angry as all fuck. “
Crys, I can believe that the Thinking Housewife is real. I grew up in the southeastern US and, while I’m not saying all southern women are like this by any means, there are some who seem to enjoy giving out ‘condescension-served-with-honey’ jabs to others. I think what percunium wrote is the key to why they do this. They are angry as hell about certain things, but have been taught that it’s not feminine or lady-like to show actual anger, so they end up showing their anger or displeasure with those condescending but ‘nice’ comments. I think we see it more in the south, since it’s more traditional and conservative.
An example: When I was in college, I pretty much lived in jeans and T-shirts. When I was visiting one of my aunts (from South Carolina), she told me, “I bet you’re really pretty when you wear normal clothes.” A compliment and insult in one sentence and how can you possibly complain since part of it was a compliment?
@Wisteria: seconding that, but it’s not only in the South,that sort of passive-aggressive ladylike nicey-nice attack may be an art form there, and still may be more practiced today, but I grew up with that in Idaho.
And there was a lot of it directed at younger women who did not confirm (I wore jeans, t-shirts, and waffle stompers all the way through college)!
One memorable time when we were visiting my dorm mate’s grandparents, and went along to visit a friend of them, the woman spent a huge amount of time going on and on about gloves and dresses and ladylike and all that which is just so MUCH BETTER than the “young people today.”
Left me with permanent allergy to the phrase “the young people today”!
Oh, and going back to miniskirts in space, and Lt. Uhura, apparently the NBC suits wouldn’t let Rodenberry hire Nichols full-time, so he hired her as a “day worker,” but still managed to put her in practically every episode, even if all she had to say was a line about hailing frequencies.
The rate for day workers was apparently higher than for some regulars.
So Nichols was one of the highest-paid actors on Star Trek. I don’t know if she got paid as much as Shatner, Nimoy or Kelley, though.
OH and Nichols literally encouraged women and persons of color to sign up for the space program, because NASA hired her to produce promotional videos and films.
On behalf of my insanely gay girlfriend, I say to the allegedly thinking housewife “BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!!”
Don’t you know contradicting you is my job, not yours?
Finding a man <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< SCIENCE!
Not that I’m a scientist by trade, but I have a great respect for those who are.
No, she just inspired thousands of schoolchildren. *Eyeroll*
Well, she’ll remind homophobic assholes that astronomy makes women gay, apparently.
What the fuck? The conclusion doesn’t flow from the premise.
I’ve got to hand it to the writer, that level of misogyny and homophobia is damned impressive.
In all seriousness, where do these people get off saying this kind of stuff, you’ve got NWO saying his uneducated blather, Steele saying that everything is misandry, Ruby trying to be better at feminism but falling short in a few VERY critical viewpoints, Tom Martin saying that all women are whores and this makes child prostitution ok for some reason, and now The Thinking Housewife saying that all women are destined or want to be subservient housewives. I can sort of understand where the conservative viewpoint comes from, although I strongly disagree with it, but seriously, what is wrong with these people? I ask because I believe that no person can be this evil without having gone through something horrible, or having been brought up with atrocious parenting or something like it. People aren’t “just” evil, there’s almost always some kind of underlying reason why they became that way.
(Also, still genuinely curious on the effects of a vacuum creating space mini in a case where a penis is present instead of a vag, weird: yes, Creepy: definitely, bored enough with my pathetically tedious rural life to ask the kinds of questions that rub people the wrong way for the sole reason being to see what people speculate to be the answer of: Priceless)
And I accidentally said the w word, forgetting that tommy broke things when he was here last.
Trying to figure out why this post today seems twice as offensive and maddening than the last three on-topics put together? Maybe because this seems less “silly” and more like something deeply ingrained throughout the US and something our culture seems to be fighting to no avail. Or some days it feels like that. I wonder if there are some days Ellen D. wakes up, reads something like this, and thinks. Wow, I could cure cancer and it would matter fuck all to these bigots, they would just wax wacky/serious over my lack of value.
grrrrrrrrrr.
I’m still laughing at the idea of using the space program as a way to meet a fella. Like, hey, I want to meet a man! I could create an online dating account, or head to a bar, or meet someone through my church… but I think instead I’ll get several advanced degrees and work incredibly hard to get into, and stay in, an extraordinarily challenging and competitive career path. I have no interest in the work, mind. Just dudes. I’m all about the dudes.
@indifferentsky
It could also be that the emotions culminated from the past three topics have kind of stuck around and attached themselves to this one.
hmmmm aworld, I ‘ll have to think about that one. Maybe!
Yeah, she’s all about women attending college/university solely to obtain their “MRS degree”.
@aworldanonymous
I think this question is best addressed by Val Kilmer, in Tombstone:
“What makes a man like Ringo, Doc? What makes him do the things he does?”
“A man like Ringo has got a great big hole, right in the middle of him. He can never kill enough, or steal enough, or inflict enough pain to ever fill it.”
“What does he need?”
“Revenge.”
“For what?”
“Bein’ born.”
In all seriousness, I don’t know if something bad has to happen to someone to make them act badly. I’ve met sweatshop workers, peasants, and sexual abuse survivors who were all wonderful, loving, giving, people. And then you have people like Mitt Romney, who have had everything in their lives handed to them and still talk about starting wars and cutting low income nutritional assistance.
I kind of feel that it’s not so much what was done to them, as what they were told to expect. Even if you have a wonderful life by any objective standard, if you were told that the whole world is there to suit your needs you’ll never be satisfied.
I’m just going to leave this here.
It’s kind of like how Varpole has started making up things that we said that he thinks are oppressive. It doesn’t matter how much privilege he has, how much money he makes, whether he’s in a relationship or not, he will always need more. And so he’s contextualized the entire world as being in one big Varpole-hurting conspiracy.
The way he describes his girlfriend as “semi-attractive” is pretty telling too. He likes his girlfriend enough to stay with her, but he still can’t admit to finding her actually attractive because the world promised him better-looking women.
Is the “Thinking Housewife” for real? Some of the posts (like the one about how feminism is making women bald) seem so over-the-top. Are we sure this isn’t irony?
“I think this question is best addressed by Val Kilmer, in Tombstone:
“What makes a man like Ringo, Doc? What makes him do the things he does?”
“A man like Ringo has got a great big hole, right in the middle of him. He can never kill enough, or steal enough, or inflict enough pain to ever fill it.”
“What does he need?”
“Revenge.”
“For what?”
“Bein’ born.”” -Ugh
This is very interesting. There is an interview with a serial killer posted on you tube, and it’s one of those guys that seems like a “nice” “regular” guy until you hear of his crimes. To be more precise, he seems like an average criminal that would balk at a serial killer. Unlike a lot of Sks he was actually a career criminal, the type you would think would have some code of conduct, the kind that harass the pedos when they are incarcerated with him (read: His own code of honor, not mine, that would preclude him from doing the horrible things he did.)
ANYWAY- the point is, in his interview he was saying he regrets his daughter was born into the world. He says this world is awful. I have never heard an SK talk like that. My perception after listening to many of them is that they describe acting on compulsions they themselves do not understand. I believe this guy understood the phenomenon much deeper, and that the dialogue you posted there is quite insightful. I’m sure I saw that movie years ago, but don’t remember it, I might want to see that again.
Sorry for the derail. 🙂