Great Women (an informal poll)

Three of my biggest childhood hero's were Helen Keller, Ameila Earhart and Nadia Comaneci.

My five year old self would absolutely include them on a greatest women of history list.

Never would have even thought of Nadia Comeneci(?).
Is there anything in particular about her? How's she rate up with, like, Mary Lou Retton or Kerri Strug?

Marla Singer. Because she gives 30% less of a fuck than everybody else.

Also Betty Crocker. Because she knew to never leave the kitchen.

And Ke$ha. Because she's a drunk ho.

When I was little I thought she was brilliant for having been the first female gymnast to score a perfect 10 in an Olympic game. Which at the the time she did it made her more than just gold medal best, but best of the best.

What's anyone's thought or opinions on Aunt Jemima? The real one.

I'm not sure, but men's gymnastics are an entirely different set of sports/games. They do completely different things than the women gymnasts. So even if a perfect 10 had been achieved by a male gymnast it would not be comparable to a female and vice versa.

Good point. Now I'm reading different things about her I think it may have been the first ever.

This little article thing said she went on to receive the perfect score a total of seven times in those 1976 games.

http://everyjoe.com/sports/the-1st-gymnast-to-score-a-perfect-10-in-olym...

edit- I think that is what it is saying. It might mean altogether in all the games she competed in.

I wanted to be the woman in the Enjoli commercials when I was five. Does that count?

And Nadia is ROMANIAN!

I have yet to come up with examples of my own.

Because she could bring home the bacon AND fry it up in a pan!

Nadia was my idol!!!! This is so awesome! I was six years old during those Olympics and in my second year of gymnastics. I was mesmerized watching her. She was such a great gymnast. That video really took me back, I had to comment. I'll have to think on a list of women.

My mom. She loves me. And has taken care of my family. It kind of ticks me off when people don't approve of housewives, because she was one.

I could never name just five.

Well don't I feel like an ass because I thought this was going to be a parody thread...

- Joan Didion. I always view her as pushing her way into a guy's industry (journalism). Granted she started at Vogue, but it was the 60's. And she worked her way up from "Copywriter" to "Features Editor" in only 2 years. In my opinion, she was one of the pioneers of "New Journalism," or non-fiction that reads like fiction. Tom Wolfe wrote a book about the style in the early 70's, but Didion was doing it in the early 60's. The style paved the way for people like Hunter Thomspon and his "Gonzo" journalism.

I'll list some I'm considerin'.
Esther
Boudecea
Joan of Arc
Annie Oakley
Pancho Barnes

Then, I've also got all of 'em from my own family, mom, two grandmoms, and two great grandmoms.

My kid self would say:

Wonder Woman/ Linda Carter

She could kick butt, was beautiful, had a heart, fought for justice and wasn't super skinny like Twiggy.

Marilyn Monroe

She was beautiful and smart enough to play the idiot to perfection.

Margaret Thacher

She was the only woman in politics that I knew about and seemed really cool (for an old woman).

Blaze Starr (Fannie Fleming)

I never met her, but my grandma used to tell me stories about her and Fannie's hijinks when I was little. My grandma and her used to perform together (in the same show - my grandma was a nightclub singer, not a burlesque dancer) and my used to tell me how grounded and practical she was and how she could wrap any man she wanted around her little finger (and how I looked just like her). To the early me (and my grandma), she was the height of female empowerment.

Princess Diana

She was a commoner that became a princess, duh!

My older self:

Eddy Shuldman:

The Alternative School Program Director and my teacher and counselor through high school. At the time, she seemed to be the only person that saw something more in me than a drop out that got expelled twice (from two different schools) in 3 months her freshman year. She taught me about feminism, hypocrisy, humanity, humility, responsibility and helped me through the transition from the drugged out sexpot I was into the academically-focused achiever I eventually became. She was probably THE greatest woman in my life.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

This woman embodied pretty much everything that I think of when I think of Feminism. Getting the vote was great, yeah, but they had to be able to support themselves and care for their children, too. She was well educated and had no problem with men or marriage. She envisioned a world were a woman didn't have to give up her kids to an orphanage and prostitute herself if her husband died or left her and she had no other males to pass "ownership" of herself and children to. She threw herself at injustice like a rabid dog and she was amazingly good at getting unreasonable people to see reason. A simply amazing woman. If I am remembered for less than 1/16 of her accomplishments, then I will have considered my life successful.

There are more, but I need to get back to work.

Yeah, I loved Princess Diana too. I still remember the day she died.

Another Romanian gymnast, Andreea Raducan, the one I look like, because she had a wonderful exercice at the 2000 Olympic Games, won the Gold Medal then they took it back from her because it turned out she'd taken a painkiller that also contained a suspicious substance.

The sufragettes

Contemporary people I admire, but I don't think they're the greatest in history:
Kate Winslet and Meryl Streep - AMAZING actresses
Maya Angelou
Anais Nin
Nina Simone and Lhasa de Sela

Also... Hermione Granger.

Suzy Hotrod - She's a roller derby player who made it in to ESPN magazine representing the sport. http://espn.go.com/espnw/body-issue/7053967/suzy-hotrod
It's thanks to the real athletes like her that derby is being taken more seriously and in turn opens the doors for even more women to be part of something empowering. I know that sounds a bit embarrassing but it's true.

Most determined smartest girl in the school. Practical. Logical to a fault. Solution to everything is to check the library. Beast of a fiery temper, everyone is afraid to cross her. Clever, ingenious. Braver than 90% of her peers. She can't just keep up with the boys, they often have trouble keeping up with her in all battles with the enemy. Refuses to be anywhere but the front lines. Minority, for more reasons than just her femaleness. Willing to abandon all luxury and even ties to her past to fight for humanity. Will stand up to her friends when they are being jerks or hardheaded. Will always fight for what she believes in even if she must do it alone, no matter how hard the work, even when her friends or her love abandon her. Beautiful. Loving. Loyal. Feminine.

Probably one of the best female role models and heroines for young girls I have ever come across.

Oh yeah? what about Lara Croft?

Hermione Granger does it better.

Tina Fey, Sojourner Truth, Hillary Clinton, Karen Horney

Speaking of Sojourner Truth, I was just reading about Silence Dogood the other day. I used to get those two confused.

What is all this homework for anyhow? Are you taking a women's studies course or something?

Building up some themes and ideas. Phil's Motherhood book, even though I haven't read it yet, got me really thinking about women in history and literature. And I wanted to see if I could come up with a story along those lines. Also, if anything ever comes from it, I'll probably use a fake woman name to release it.

I still think Nate should do a homework thread where we post and he gives us an assignment for everyday lifecand we post later about how it went.

I'd sign up and then have to leave for three months because I couldn't deal with the pressure.

I don't remember that at all.

I think I told Levi he had to go donate some blood. But he was too afraid of needles or something. I should just recycle all my old threads and see how they do nowadays. Maybe I was just ahead of my time back then! Just maybe!

Fun fact: I can't donate blood because I'm below their weight limit. Also because I'm hypoglycemic.

I wonder what they'd do if someone went into one of those places and asked if they could receive a pint. Whether they needed it or not, just shove an extra pint of blood into your body. I guess it'd play havoc with the blood pressure. Now I'm wondering what it would be like if someone had a freak genetic thing and they had two circulatory systems laid atop each other. They ought to have like super-muscles and super-thinking because they'd be getting twice as much blood and oxygen to all their cells don't you think?

I'd think it'd be more like Limitless, where you'd burn out twice as fast.

What if that's why vampires have to suck out people's blood? Hot damn, I've struck gold, i tells ya!