rthstewart | International Women's Day

Women have been really beaten about the last few weeks here in the US so a day to celebrate to women is certainly called for and timely.

inkvoices has a terrific set of recs, including some of my favorite fics and vids here.

I will draw your attention to one link she had which I spotted last week and just adored, from The Mary Sue,
Non-Costumed, Non-Powered Female Heroines

I invite you to share in comments or your own posts other recs, commentary, comment fic, or accolades for women who inspire, whether real or fandom.

So, I shall share three of my heroines.

Princess "Into the gabrage shoot, fly boy" Leia, probably my first real fandom heroine

Margaret Sanger, Founder of Planned Parenthood who went to jail for distributing "pornography" about how a woman could prevent pregnancy. As one judge told her in her criminal trial, a woman does not have "the right to copulate with a feeling of security that there will be no resulting conception." There are many excellent pieces about her, but here's a start.

And finally, my mom, who died several years of esophageal cancer. Yep, she was a long time smoker and never was able to quit, as she viewed cigarettes as her best friend in a lot of ways. She was a troubled woman, which I knew growing up and as an adult but didn't understand why until after she died and learned she had been abused by her father for years. She finally walked out and never looked back, an amazing thing in that time for a young woman to do. I now see with hindsight how much she was able to accomplish, for herself and her daughters, in spite of that terrible, terrible past. As a teacher, she advocated a novel thing called listening and tried to teach the skill to elementary students. Even though she did not understand them and could not use them, she saw the potential of computers as a teaching tool when the only computers out there were the first Apples and big mainframes with data cards and she worked to obtain funding to bring computers into classrooms. She was a huge proponent of science and math literacy for girls. She was attacked at a school board meeting by angry citizens because she advocated teaching children decision making skills. As one angry parent denounced, "We don't want schools teaching children how to think. We want our schools to teach them what to think." This was in the 1970s in California and over 35 years later, I still recall my mother's defiance as one of the greatest moments of heroism I'd ever witnessed.

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Thank you for sharing those glimpses of your mother. Reading that, it struck me that I would like to have met her. And then I realized that, in a way, and through you, I already have. :)

Thank you, thank you! It is funny how age gives you a much different perspective on things and I do wish I had known more at the time. The Episcopalian priest (a woman) who presided at her internment was a lovely woman who drove a mini-van filled with soccer balls, trash and juice boxes and she observed that life is messy sometimes. It was all very fitting.

Your mother was awesome and courageous to have done all that she did during her lifetime. And really, it's apparent that some of her more remarkable qualities was passed down to her own children.

Mom was a writer, a frustrated one, who never got over her self-censor. She was very good at writing compelling DOE grants to address real educational needs -- getting them filed was another matter. thank you thank you!

"We don't want schools teaching children how to think. We want our schools to teach them what to think."

Gobsmacked. Simply gobsmacked. I thought my school was old-fashioned (far better facilities for teaching cookery & needlework than physics or chemistry, in the 1980s) but any one of our teachers would have eaten that parent for breakfast. Minced.

I know, right? And yet, this sort of movement remains deeply popular here, though the strongest proponents of it have probably removed their children from public school altogether.

... those are all so fascinating. Those women kicked ass.

Thank you for sharing -- all of them! ♥

Margaret Sanger definitely had her flaws -- as someone reminded me, there's the whole eugenics thing. But the stunning misogyny she faced (which we STILL are hearing today) makes you realize how far we have not come and so appreciative of those women, flawed though they were, who stood up for that novel thing known as self-determination.

Your mother sounds like an incredible woman.

She was! Which is why I do wish she had been less ashamed of and more open about her past because it would have made others, me included, appreciate all the things she had been able to accomplish in spite of it. A part of it is the debate currently circulating in the US political sphere now and I feel like, enough with sweeping all this under the rug and hiding ourselves, our bodies, our needs. There's a misogynistic patriarchy that is more than happy to take our good mannered and polite silence as passivity and acquiescence.

Pat of that would be the times, I imagine. All things considered, she still managed to be appreciated well enough ;)

I always love your rec posts (the Wild Child vid is bookmarked!) and your mother sounds like she was a properly awesome lady. :)

My earliest heroines were all fictional. Roald Dahl's Matilda was one. She was clever and loved reading. We went to the library faithfully every week, I love books just as much as Matilda did.

I came across Tamora Peirce fairly early on too. Alanna worked hard and proved she was just as good (better!) than the boys at their own game. She had flaws and sometimes made mistakes, but that didn't detract from her sheer strength of character. I liked playing at the space-pirate-ninja-wizard-knight-princess the best, as I'm sure many do! (My sister sure did, we had epic battles against the forces of evil together...)

More recently I've found out more about my great-great(-great? can't remember..)-grandmother, who with true pioneering spirit voyaged down to the Faulkland Islands with her husband. She wrote an account of the journey. They got plague on the ship in South America and had to be quarantined and when they got to the islands, they had a shipwreck in a storm and had to row to shore in little boats. Then they built the whole farm and house and livelihood up from scratch. I find it even more awesome that the account is written in the typical English understatement.

hm I seem to have rambled, sorry! I hope your day is great and wish you all the best things in the world. x

Realised I forgot some of the more awesome women characters: anyone written by Terry Pratchett, especially Granny Weatherwax (the Lancre Witch) and Sargent Angua (wearwolf). Oh and Susan. And... :D

AWESOME rambling. Tamora Pierce is one of things on my forever to read list. And yes, who would not have loved playing space-pirate-ninja-wizard-knight-princess? Because you can HAVE IT ALL, with a sword and a pink feather boa with sequins! (There's a discussion embedded here of the glory of Mary Sue, wish fulfillment, and the strength of imaginative pretend play)

I can just imagine your great (great great) grandmother's account. "And today the last sheep died. The rats are keeping the lizards at bay. Tea was lovely." She sounds like an amazing woman!

I went to find the account and posted it on my journal. It's every bit as fun as I remembered!

(Is this where I sneak in and say 'chute' not 'shoot'?)

I already knew your mom was an amazing woman: she raised such a fantastic daughter. But thank you for sharing this story of her!

Thank you! AND CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Thank you for this amazing post. <3

You're welcome! and happy Day After Women's Day -- which has its origins in Up With Women Workers of the Socialist State. The Jane Dough has some fabulous posters,
here and it makes you want to get on some boots, wrap your hair in a scarf and grab a machine tool or riveter.

International Women's Day

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