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Rosemary Papa
Finding Her
in History
Confronting the
Traditions of Misogyny
Finding Her in History
Rosemary Papa
This monograph was cultivated from the AERA SIG Research on Women and
Education address and delivers a brief review of his-story in terms of the lack of
her-story being included through three parallel lines: (1) historical documents on
formation of the family and work in and outside the home from the Paleolithic era,
(2) the development of traditional religions and the subjugation of women begin-
ning with the conniving seductress Eve; and (3) the discussion of major wars and
the nation/state policies produced throughout history with impacts on girls and
women, as well as the precarious health of the planet. This brief review of his-story
reveals the continued exclusion of her-story with the example of Willystine
Goodsell, a historian, ironically erased from history in education. The premise that
subjugation of women and children as lesser than males has been supported both in
the name of protecting them and in shaming them. The combined ubiquitous effects
of disequilibrium created by mankind in wars, religions, education, social capital,
economics, and politics have ensured his-story is the one recorded. This monograph
suggests a more balanced approach to the written her–his-story that requires inclu-
sion of all the population and the secular educating of especially girls and women.
v
Keywords
vii
Acknowledgment
ix
Introduction
Throughout his-story, the tactics to erase women and her-story have all mostly suc-
ceeded, from the dawn of the written record of history through the formation of
religions, and the major wars fought globally have ensured a male-only perspective.
I contend in the age of the Internet: all voices have more of an equal chance to be
heard, especially in the twenty-first century if research on women and girls demands
inclusion, thereby producing actions that can change the way his-story has been told
so it will become a more comprehensive our-story.
One woman whose words have been nearly erased from our history is Willystine
Goodsell. Her chair for her doctoral dissertation was John Dewey, a noted progres-
sive educator. She was employed at Teachers College, Columbia University, where
for 30+ years she never rose above associate professor. From her several books,
history labeled her a feminist. This is how she was erased. In writing this mono-
graph for the AERA SIG on Women and Education Willystine Goodsell Award, as
a university professor I was stunned to have never been exposed to her historical
education research.
It is equally shocking to find that there is no word that equals feminism. Some
might say masculinism or misogynist. But none of these terms make sense except to
define separateness and are value-laden with the images these terms evoke. “The
relationship between social justice complexities and global schooling practices that
define schooling and education as a basic human right” is grounded in the social
science perspective, for which the lens of Nancy Fraser (Papa 2016, p. 1) is appli-
cable to use. Fraser’s theory of democratic participatory parity is framed across
three dimensions: economic and the distribution, maldistribution, and redistribu-
tion; cultural as recognition and misrecognition; and political as social justice
achieved through participatory parity as all-inclusive of the “isms” (Fraser 1996,
2007). Her contention is that without the political dimension that engages
xi
xii Introduction
p articipatory parity, there can be no real social justice analysis. She posits that a
theory of justice must include both the individual distinctions and the common
moral and ethical sense of humanity (Papa 2016).
Social capital culture is variable for global inhabitants. Fraser’s participatory
parity is used to describe what I call the her–his-story spectrum: her-story, history,
and all the variations along the continuum of humankind. In understanding leaders
and leadership, I have often defined power as neither good nor bad: those become
the manifestations of how it is used, and so it is with the words feminism, masculin-
ism, and misogynist.
This monograph reviews the his–her-story spectrum in terms of the lack of her-
story being told – evident in historical documents, traditional religions, and mostly
all historical documents founded and repeatedly retold on the premise that subjuga-
tion of women and children as lesser than was done in the name of protecting them
and the ubiquitous effects of disequilibrium created by mankind in wars, history,
religions, education, social capital, and economics to ensure his-story had been the
one recorded.
A most recent example of erasing women from his-story is found in the New York
Times Op-Ed (Walshe, March 18, 2016) titled, “The Forgotten Heroines of Ireland.”
On April 29, 1916, a female nurse named Elizabeth O’Farrell delivered a message
while bullets were still flying to end the Easter Rising. Walshe described, “Ms.
O’Farrell’s act of bravery has become one of the iconic moments of the Rising, not
so much for the act itself, but for how it was documented” (p. A25). In a photo of
the surrender to the British, only her boots can be seen. When the photo appears in
a British newspaper, the image of even her boots has vanished. She claims she delib-
erately set herself outside the photo. “That photo has come to symbolize the air-
brushing – or ‘Eire-brushing,’ … of women out of Ireland’s history” (p. A25).
How many more stories, her-stories, have been lost in the narratives of his-story?
Too many stories by my count are lost on how women have died alongside men in
protection of their homelands. Walshe concludes this op-ed with the years following
the 1920s and 1930s wherein the Catholic church “began rolling back…rights
almost as swiftly as Elizabeth O’Farrell’s boots were erased from that photo” (p.
A25).
Well-being and happiness are what most parents, grand-, and great grandparents
want for their children. We are concerned with our children, their children, and the
sphere of their community of friends. As the community grows to focus on the
state’s families and children, it grows into the nation/state with a concern for the
myriad of ways families, women, men, and children are blighted from a sense of
well-being. The spectrum of her–his-stories must be accounted for, not only in the
past but also for the future. And, along the ubiquitous corridor of the Internet that by
the minute can tell one of disasters, zeroing in on the corrosive effects of climate
change, drought, lack of clean drinking water and war, and fleeing one’s country in
hopes to live and find a better life, the realization, pragmatic and real, tells all of us
that not every woman, man, and child in the world is safe, not every community is
cared for, and not every child is loved and in control of his/her personal happiness.
Introduction xiii
Photo 1 Logo of
Educational Leaders
Without Borders (Author
created)
xiv Introduction
So, how do we live a life that surrounds others with well-being and happiness?
Many humans have pondered this question. Herbert George Wells said, “Human
history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe” (Bartlett
1855/1968, p. 888b). We know this to be true: we are the educators.
Aristotle said, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim
and end of human existence” (Gregoire 2015, p. 1). Gregoire believes that in the
Aristotelian definition of happiness, eudaimonia, he meant human flourishing or
self-actualization leads to well-being and happiness, which are the most we can
strive for. Jean-Paul Sartre’s longtime partner was the feminist thinker Simone de
Beauvoir. She believed caring for others gives life meaning and that “One’s life has
value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friend-
ship, and compassion” (p. 2).
She further said (2015, p. 4) that the Roman philosopher and politician Cicero
believed that “cultivating the intellect was essential to the good life” (p. 4). “Read at
every wait; read at all hours; read within leisure; read in times of labor; read as one
goes in; read as one goes out,” said Cicero. “The task of the educated mind is simply
put: read to lead” (Gregoire 2015, p. 4). All educators are leaders who can research
and write the books to ensure inclusion of her-story.
References
Bartlett, J. (1855/1968). Familiar quotations (14th ed.). Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
Educational Leaders Without Borders. (2015). Our work. Retrieved from http://www.educational-
leaderswithoutborders.com/
Fraser, N. (1996). Social justice in the age of identity politics: Redistribution, recognition and
participation. Stanford: The Tanner Lectures on Human Values. Retrieved from http://tanner-
lectures.utah.edu/documents/a-to-z/f/Fraser98.pdf
Fraser, N. (2007). Re-framing justice in a globalizing world. In T. Lovell (Ed.), (Mis)recognition,
social inequality and social justice (pp. 17–35). London: Routledge.
Gregoire, C. (2015, August 21 updated). Living well, according to some of the wisest people who
ever lived. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/28/
the-truest-things-ever-sa_n_3798034.html
Papa, R. (2016). Feminist, masculinist, misogynists – Our-story to clarify. Washington, DC: A
keynote address at AERA, SIG Women and Education.
Papa, R., & English, F. (2014). Framing an international imaginative identity: A monograph on
educational leaders without borders. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaderswithout-
borders.com/upcoming-events.html
Papa, R. & English, F. (2015). Educational leaders without borders. Retrieved from http://www.
educationalleaderswithoutborders.com/
Walshe, S. (2016, March 18). The forgotten heroines of Ireland. The New York Times Op-Ed, A25.
Contents
1 His-Story of Mankind............................................................................. 1
A Brief Glimpse of His-Story................................................................... 3
In Protection of Her.................................................................................. 4
In “Protection” of Him.............................................................................. 9
References................................................................................................. 12
2 Her-Story: Willystine Goodsell.............................................................. 15
References................................................................................................. 22
3 Imbalances: Social Equity and the Politics of Globalization.............. 23
References................................................................................................. 34
4 The Primacy of Gendered Poverty........................................................ 37
Afghanistan Low-Income Economy......................................................... 38
World Bank (2016b) Designation of Low-Income Economies
of $1045 or Less in 2014.................................................................. 38
India Lower-Middle-Income Economy.................................................... 39
India: World Bank (2016b) Designation Lower-Middle-Income
Economies $1046–$4125.................................................................. 40
Brazil Upper-Middle-Income Economy................................................... 41
World Bank (2016b) Designation Upper-Middle-Income Economies
($4126–$12,735)............................................................................... 42
US High-Income Economy....................................................................... 43
World Bank (2016b) Designation High-Income Economies
of $12,736 or More........................................................................... 45
References................................................................................................. 46
5 Impacts: Economic, Political, and Cultural......................................... 49
References................................................................................................. 58
6 Actions for Strong, Brave Women and Men......................................... 59
The Immediate Aftermath of the 2016 Presidential Election.................... 61
xv
xvi Contents
Index................................................................................................................. 73
List of Figures
xvii
List of Tables
xix
Chapter 1
His-Story of Mankind
All major timelines of history tell the story of humankind through religion, war, and
aggressors seeking power and dominance. And, as the quote above states, when
women sought power over their lives and bodies, they have been categorized since
the 1990s as man-hating, feminazis (Rudman 2012). It is a story dominated by the
warrior male that is encouraged, supported, and repeatedly communicated by a vari-
ety of religions to claim the justified path for war, for authority, for dominance, and
for power over others, especially women. As with the major world religions, women
and children are hardly cited in a world history of creating religions that ensured
they were to be dominated and vanquished. Women and children have not waged
wars in the name of righteousness for a deity or to gain land or to subjugate others.
Table 1.1 is an abridged timeline of history and through the lens of his-story
defines human development. This table was abridged by the author to provide a
brief parallel view of wars, social capital, and religions and the written development
that keeps girls and women in lesser status.
From the Paleolithic early Stone Age period, historians mostly agree that gender
relates to “broader formulations of culture, including religion” (Adams et al. 2000,
p. 66). From the period of “hunter-gatherer or foragers” (p. 67), Adams et al. con-
tends that “gender structures that first developed in the Neolithic period are still
found in many cultures around the world” (p. 76). Further:
Even in the most technologically advanced cultures sons are still favored over daughters;
women’s tasks are valued less than men’s; and the majority of government officials are
male. Thus, though the religious systems – except for Judaism – [along with]…the stone or
bronze technology of early human cultures have been gone for millennia in most of the
world, certain aspects of their gender structures have endured. (Adams et al., p. 76)
Changes through the classical period (1000 B.C.E.–450 C.E.) note Confucianism,
Hinduism, and Greek city-state politics that lead to a further rigidification of gender
roles that may have “unwittingly formalized gender ideas” (p. 154), especially
among upper class and the need for males to ensure women were virgins so their
4 1 His-Story of Mankind
offspring were theirs. It is during this time that “the creation of a more elaborate
political sphere spurred men to try to define public life and the familial, to be sepa-
rate” (p. 154). During the postclassical period (45–1450 C.E.), the spread of Islam,
the Chinese influence on Japan led to “greater segregation and often, measurably
harsher treatment of women…despite the spread of [other] religions which urged
that women had spiritual qualities along with men” (p. 231). The Early Modern
World History period (1450–1750) marked further disparities which emphasized
“marriage between individuals from widely different cultures…with different skin
tones and facial features” (p. 294) lead to a race as distinctive. The Roman Catholic
Church’s spread from Western Europe to religious colonization in Latin America
led to levels of lineage that further became tied to color. During this time, slavery
and polygamy in Africa spread to the American frontier. From the mid-nineteenth
century to today, with the rise of industrialization to the now expansive role of the
Internet and technology, what will gender structures continue to become? Adams
et al. speculates that into the twenty-first century, the need for maleness as a “neces-
sary attribute for diplomats, plumbers, soldiers, athletes, photographers, pilots, fire-
fighters, and voters” (p. 458) is likely to change.
Change requirements for an educated society are one that is balanced in the poli-
tics and culture of gender roles. How else will we solve the problems future genera-
tions face without giving greater voice to half the population?
Why have these rigid gender structures endured? From an anthropological perspec-
tive, we can describe the hunter-gatherers to today’s lack of equal pay for women,
evidence through rules and regulations that kept women fighter pilots from World
War II out of Arlington National Cemetery (Rickman 2016, February 21) until
September 7, 2016, when Elaine Harmon a WASP in WWII was laid to rest
(Domonoske 2016) or the Republican conservative politics and that of the Supreme
Court for the last 40 years that have placed increasing control over women’s bodies.
It is the most glaring abuse that women are forced to re-confront from the 1970s.
Where did the legal lawmaking over women come from?
Bazelon (2016) wrote of the laws that were written in “protection” of women but
actually hurt them. In 1908 the Supreme Court in Lochner v. New York found that
“a woman, like a child…has been looked upon in the courts as needing especial
care” (p. 13). This case focused on Oregon state’s 10 h restriction limiting women’s
work hours and rebuffed men, primarily bakers, from this working restriction. The
Supreme Court heard the male lawyer in defense of the male shop owner who
worked the female over 10 h, ironically, on Labor Day, makes a “feminist argument:
Limits on women’s work hours actually discriminate against them” (Bazelon 2016,
p. 13). From this court case in 1908, courts across the country have passed numer-
ous employment laws for the “health” and “safety” of women in the workforce. The
steps away from this legislation Bazelon noted occurred in 1973 when legislation
In Protection of Her 5
gave a female Air Force officer’s husband the same access to benefits as accorded
males in the military and their wives.
In 1973 Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court legalized abortion which gave women
a right to their own bodies and a safe way to exercise protection to their person. My
mother, Josephine Rosemary Sirchia Papa, raised me knowing about a cousin she
had loved dearly that died after an abortion in the 1940s as her husband returning
from the war did not want a fourth child. The fight during the 1970s for this author
included arcane laws that did not allow a pregnant teacher in California to continue
teaching once she began to show or that disallowed married couples to teach in the
same school.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland (see Table 1.2 abridged by this author)
offers an overview of the story of its genesis and expansion of services in the “heart-
land of America” (geographic middle of the USA). Their genesis follows medical
and legal developments.
Table 1.2 Timeline of planned parenthood in the heartland (of America) (Author abridged)
1916 Two years after coining the term birth control, Margaret Sanger began a revolution in a
Brooklyn storefront. She opened America’s first birth control clinic, laying the
groundwork for what is now Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She was then
jailed for 30 days for breaking the “Comstock Law,” which forbade the discussion and
dissemination of birth control
1931 At the height of the depression, recognizing that most women are not able to afford a
private physician, Mrs. Hilda Cornish establishes the Little Rock Birth Control Clinic,
the first birth control clinic in Arkansas. The contraceptive method generally
recommended is the vaginal diaphragm and jelly
1934 Iowa’s first three family planning organizations start in three areas of the state: Birth
Control League of Cedar Falls, Maternal Health League of Sioux City, and Iowa
Maternal Health League in Des Moines. Diaphragms, condoms, and contraceptive jelly
are offered to “needy married women”
1935 Prominent Omaha families found the Maternal Health League
1936 The US Circuit Court of Appeals rules in US v. One Package that physicians may
prescribe contraceptives to married women to save lives or promote well-being
1938 Each of Iowa’s 99 counties has one physician who promises to dispense contraceptives
and to further family planning services. Education efforts begin with contraceptive
lectures throughout the state
1940 According to a Gallup Poll, 77% of Americans approve of having government health
clinics furnish birth control information to married people who want it. Under Hilda
Cornish’s leadership is successful in convincing the University of Arkansas Medical
School to include birth control methods in its curriculum, with clinical facilities
provided at the University Hospital
1942 Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. is adopted as the new, more
comprehensive name for the Birth Control Federation of America
1943 Tulsa’s birth control clinic, started in 1937, affiliates with Planned Parenthood
Federation of America
1947 Omaha Maternal Health League becomes Planned Parenthood Committee of Omaha
1951 Planned Parenthood of Omaha opens a clinic in the Northside Branch of YWCA
(continued)
6 1 His-Story of Mankind
Birth control one could speculate has been around since the beginning of time.
Various herbs, abstinence, and timing by moon cycles during menstrual cycles were
probably passed along from mother to daughter across the ages. Once medical birth
control was able to be sold to women in the 1960s, the need to “protect” women and
women’s rights began to simmer. In Roe v. Wade 1973, the decision, which origi-
nated from a Texas case, by the Supreme Court majority paved the way to allow
medical science practices to expand women’s opportunities to control her body.
Excerpts are provided below in the courts own words by Civil Liberties expert Tom
Head (2014a, b, c, d) (see Table 1.3).
In erosion of women’s rights, Bazelon (2016) argues that somewhat surprisingly
the “protection” argument will be heard again in yet another Supreme Court case
Table 1.3 Excerpts from the Supreme Court’s majority decision on Roe v. Wade
Antiabortion Arguments. It has been argued occasionally that these laws were the product of a
Victorian social concern to discourage illicit sexual conduct…
[A second reason] When most criminal abortion laws were first enacted, the procedure was
a hazardous one for the woman…Mortality rates for women undergoing early abortions,
where the procedure is legal, appear to be as low as or lower than the rates for normal
childbirth…
The third reason is the state’s interest – some phrase it in terms of duty – in protecting
prenatal life (Head 2014b, p. 1) (see http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/a/roevwade_
maj_2.htm)
Right to Privacy. Whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal
liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or as the District Court determined, in
the Ninth Amendment’s reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a
woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy…also acknowledge that some state
regulation in areas protected by that right is appropriate…The privacy right involved, therefore,
cannot be said to be absolute (Head 2014c, p. 1) (see http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/a/
roevwade_maj_3.htm)
When Does Life Begin? The woman’s privacy is no longer sole, and any right of privacy she
possesses must be measured accordingly
We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the
respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any
consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man’s knowledge, is not in a
position to speculate as to the answer ...Viability is usually placed at about 7 months
(28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks
In view of all this, we do not agree that, by adopting one theory of life, Texas may override
the rights of the pregnant woman that are at stake. We repeat, however, that the state does
have an important and legitimate interest in preserving and protecting the health of the
pregnant woman, whether she be a resident of the state or a nonresident who seeks medical
consultation and treatment there, and that it has still another important and legitimate
interest in protecting the potentiality of human life. These interests are separate and distinct.
Each grows in substantiality as the woman approaches term, and, at a point during
pregnancy, each becomes “compelling.” (Head 2014d, p. 1) see http://civilliberty.about.com/
od/abortion/a/roevwade_maj_4.htm
Source: Head (2014a, b, c, d). Excerpts from Roe v. Wade: The Supreme Court on when does life
begin? Retrieved from http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/a/roevwade_maj_4.htm
In “Protection” of Him 9
this year. Many abortion clinics have been closed by various antiabortion groups
and especially the Americans United for Life “which drafts model legislation for
states, has what it calls a Women’s Protection Project…with suggested bills called
the Women’s Health Protection Act and the Women’s Health Defense Act” (p. 14).
She notes that the argument from saving the unborn child has shifted to an argument
to “protect” the woman. On March 2, 2016 the Supreme Court heard a challenge to
the Texas law that passed in 2013 a series of strict and highly costly regulations on
clinics. Since 2013, following in Texas footsteps, “more than 20 states have enacted
laws with some or all of the Texas restrictions” (Ibid), while if Texas restrictions are
upheld to go into full effect, “the state is projected to drop to eight or nine, from 44
three years ago, across nearly 270,000 square miles” (Ibid). On June 27, 2016, the
US Supreme Court issued:
…a historic decision striking down a Texas law designed to shut down most of the state’s
abortion clinics with medically unnecessary restrictions. The decision in Whole Woman’s
Health v. Hellerstedt reaffirms a woman’s constitutional right to access legal abortion, and
will empower women to fight back against deceptive anti-choice laws in Texas and beyond.
(Center for Reproductive Rights 1992–2016, para. 1–2)
She believes that the Supreme Court has chipped away as well and even with the
Texas challenge of 2016 issuing in favor of women, given the tragedy of presidential
election of 2016, one can only question how long women will have any reproductive
rights in the USA.
Frustrations can often be heard by men when other men and especially women accuse
them of not being “PC” politically correct with their communication. Using PC as an
excuse for correcting or being corrected for acting rude or misogynist can be a misun-
derstanding of the use, the power of the words, and power itself. Correcting someone
for using racial, gender, ageism, and all other “isms” in any derogatory way is not a
question of not being PC: it is clearly wrong to denigrate someone to feel power and
authority over them. This is misogyny for the he–she spectrum.
Some might say, perhaps we have overcorrected our use of language with silli-
ness: calling mail persons instead of mailman when it is a man delivering the mail,
but calling someone sexist for using mailman instead of mail person can be silly, not
10 1 His-Story of Mankind
a mean-spirited slur. Understanding for both men and women along the spectrum
their use of language needs to ensure that all language is respectful and not inten-
tional to place another in a weak or subservient role.
Common use of the word feminist has become for some a word that implies
strident focus on women and their rights to the exclusion of all else. The word for a
male does not really exist in common usage. Masculinist? Misogynist? Cambridge
Dictionaries Online (2016a, b) offers these definitions:
Feminist – a person who believes in feminism and tries to achieve change that helps women
to get equal opportunities and treatment, USA and UK. (2016a, p. 1)
Misogynist – someone, usually a man, who hates women or believes that men are much
better than women. (2016b, p. 1)
And, from the Oxford Dictionaries (2016), as the Cambridge Dictionary did not
have a definition, masculinist is defined as “Characterized by or denoting attitudes
or values held to be typical of men and or relating to the advocacy of the rights or
needs of men” (2016, p. 1).
From these three definitions, the gender neutrality of the words belies common
usage. During the twentieth century, women’s rights grew, and some women and
especially some men grew increasingly uncomfortable as they perceived the new
rights meant losing the “protections” women once had and for men the loss of their
authority and superior power. For the purposes of contemporary times, what can be
asked is what do men confront from the changes that have occurred during the twen-
tieth and into the twenty-first centuries?
Feminism can be found to have followers along the her–his spectrum.
Unfortunately, so can misogynists be found along the spectrum. If we are going to
speak to the rights and protections of men along the spectrum for this author, we
will use masculinist “characterized by or denoting attitudes or values held to be
typical of men; of or relating to the advocacy of the rights or needs of men” (Oxford
Dictionary 2016, p. 1) as this can be the counter balance to feminists. By this I mean
that a person who tries for equal opportunities for women and men to ensure their
general needs are met is the goal of a balanced life. Are men in favor of men’s rights
misogynists? No. Schroeder in writing for Cracked as part of the Men’s Rights
Activist Movement (n.d.) contends that feminists often deny this movement or con-
sider it misogynistic.
Given the his-story of the world, one can see how some or many women may feel
this way. My concern is with our use of language and how that affects perceptions
of each other. Do all men believe in war and want to fight in wars? Do all men fol-
low religions that subjugate women to home and child bearing? Do all men believe
they should out earn women doing equal work to them? All or none is too
dichotomist.
As we today have grown increasingly watchful of language usage to not render
some inferior, what effect has this had on men and women who prefer superior
authority to guide them as it then supports their superiority? Schroeder (n.d.) writes
about the period from the 1970s to today:
In “Protection” of Him 11
Yes. Men’s Rights Activism (MRA) began as the natural response of American males to the
growing threat of feminism, in much the same way that burning your house down is the
natural response to the threat of ghosts. In both cases, a better solution would be to walk
away and let a less emotionally fragile man deal with the situation. (Schroeder, p. 1)
His tongue-in-cheek description continues with some of these fragile men “who
simply will not tolerate being held down by the harsh, unyielding demands of the
feminist movement…the future is a bleak dystopia where men are kept in pens and
robotically milked for sperm, while women rule the world…” (p. 1). He ends his
piece by calling to task the MRA group with espousing a belief that though women
have been treated differently in the past, these times are changing. Some causes are
noteworthy: parental visitation and child custody. These are real concerns for men,
as is the concern that all men choose not to go into war, which was another 1960–
1970s reality on the draft of men. What are the impacts on men with the ways soci-
eties define the “masculinity” of men?
If you call yourself a victim, you’re acknowledging that something happened to you that
you couldn’t control. You couldn’t defend yourself or fight back. Men grow up being told
we’re supposed to be tough, we’re supposed to be masculine and self-sufficient, we should
be able to defend ourselves and others. My father was teaching me how to fight before I was
being taught to read. (see Santino Hassell in Millard 2016, p. 1)
AbsurdistWords speaks to how rape culture, that is, “society’s tendency to blame
rape victims for their own assaults, affects all genders” (Millard 2016, p. 2). The
recent disgrace of the Catholic Church with priest pedophiles speaks to the harm
men experience when they are told to not cry, don’t act like a baby, man-up, etc.
Men are not supposed to be weak. Why is the suicide rate higher for men? Statistics
from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention notes the following: men die
by suicide 3.5× more often than women, the rate of suicide is highest in middle
age – White men in particular, and White males are accounted for 7 of 10 suicides
in 2013 (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention 2016, p. 1).
Weakness comes at men in many alarming ways: never ask for help, don’t appear
inexperienced, knowing too little or too much, feeling sad or too happy, crying,
12 1 His-Story of Mankind
being afraid, etc. In the USA boys are socialized to behaviors that are often nonsen-
sical just as with girls.
It seems we should seek balance in our societies for the her–his spectrum. Women
and children are so often overlooked that it should still amaze us that we have never
been given an equal standing in how his-story has been done nor how it has been
written. Yet, without us, the Homo sapiens will not survive. When I think of survival
of the fittest, I think of the roles women and children have played in the survival of
our species, humankind, as essential, alongside men yet perceived as not important
enough to be given equal status.
We need only to look at who writes the story. If we cling to the past, it becomes
the future. We must move beyond this for the sake of all of us. As a woman educator
for 44 years, I never was exposed to Willystine Goodsell’s works (1915/1934, 1923,
1928). Education historians defined her not as a historian but as a feminist whose
research was only to be read by other feminists instead of together with Dewey and
others of her era. Her lineage as a professor is remarkable: John Dewey was Chair
of her dissertation. She was an educator historian that wrote books 100 years ago
that would have spoken to many of us in education.
References
Adams, P. V., Langer, E. D., Hwa, L., Stearns, P. N., & Wiesner-Hanks, M. E. (2000). Experiencing
world history. New York: New York University Press.
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (2016). Suicide statistics. Retrieved from https://
afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/
Bazelon, E. (2016, February 21). Over bearing. The New York Times Magazine, pp. 13–15.
Cambridge Dictionaries Online. (2016a). Feminist. Retrieved from http://dictionary.cambridge.
org/dictionary/english/feminism
Cambridge Dictionaries Online. (2016b). Misogynist. Retrieved from http://dictionary.cambridge.
org/us/dictionary/english/misogyny
Crockett, E. (2016, January 28). How decades of court rulings weakened Roe v. Wade and put
abortion rights at risk. Retrieved from http://mensrightsactivism.com/
Domonoske, C. (2016, September 7). Female WWII pilot finally laid to rest in Arlington
National Cemetery. NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-
way/2016/09/07/492954680/female-wwii-pilot-is-finally-laid-to-rest-at-arlington-national-
cemetery
Goodsell, W. (1915/1934). A history of marriage and the family. New York: The Macmillan
Company.
Goodsell, W. (1923). The education of women: Its social background and its problems. New York:
The Macmillan Company.
Goodsell, W. (1928). The century social science series: Problems of the family. New York: The
Century Company.
Head, T. (2014a, September updated). Roe v. Wade (1973): The Supreme Court’s majority ruling.
Retrieved from http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/a/roevwade_maj.htm
Head, T. (2014b, September updated). Excerpts from Roe v. Wade: The Supreme Court on
anti-abortion arguments. Retrieved from http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/a/roevwade_
maj_2.htm
References 13
Head, T. (2014c, September updated). Excerpts from Roe v. Wade: The Supreme Court on right to
privacy. Retrieved from http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/a/roevwade_maj_3.htm
Head, T. (2014d, September updated). Excerpts from Roe v. Wade: The Supreme Court on when
does life begin? Retrieved from http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/a/roevwade_maj_4.
htm
Millard, A. B. (2016, January 20). Male survivors of sexual assault speak out. The Establishment.
Retrieved from http://www.theestablishment.co/2016/01/20/male-survivors-of-sexual-assault-
speak-out/
Oxford Dictionaries. (2016). Masculinist. Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/
definition/american_english/masculinist
Planned Parenthood in the Heartland. (2016). Our history. Retrieved from https://www.planned-
parenthood.org/planned-parenthood-heartland/who-we-are/history
Rickman, S. B. (2016, February 21). The female pilots we betrayed. The New York Times Sunday
Opinion, p. 9.
Rudman, C. (2012, March 12). Feminazi: The history of Limbaugh’s trademark slur against
women. Mediamatters for America. Retrieved from https://mediamatters.org/research/2012/
03/12/feminazi-the-history-of-limbaughs-trademark-slu/186336
Schroeder. (n.d.). Men’s rights. Cracked. Retrieved from http://www.cracked.com/funny-8503-
mens-rights/
Watson, E. (2014, September 20). Emma Watson: Gender equality is your issue too. U.N. Women.
Retrieved from http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/9/emma-watson-genderequality-
is-your-issue-too
Chapter 2
Her-Story: Willystine Goodsell
Willystine Goodsell, for whom the AERA Women in Education SIG Award is
named, was a nineteenth century activist teacher and faculty member at Teachers
College, Columbia University. Goodsell dedicated her life to advancing opportuni-
ties and equal education for women. Since 1981 this award has been given to women
with outstanding scholarship, activism, and community building on behalf of
women, girls, and education. Among her voluminous number of books and articles
written in the first half of the twentieth century (Goodsell 1923, 1928, 1934), the
greatest impact beyond her is the irony of what and where women are today.
Dr. Goodsell took on giants in her day – that remain giants today. Measurement
and statistics professor Edward L. Thorndike, whose son wrote the famous psycho-
logical measurement book widely used in the 1980–1990s, was criticized by Dr.
Goodsell in her 1923 book, The Education of Women. As a historian she refuted the
stereotyping of the culture and politics and religion of her professional era in her
PhD dissertation, The Conflict of Naturalism and Humanism. She graduated in
1906, from Columbia University. Born in 1870 she died June 1, 1962, at the age of
92. “She founded and was the first president of the Women’s Faculty Club at
Columbia University” as noted in her obituary in the New York Times, June 1, 1962,
p. 28 (Biklen 1994, pp. 228, 231). A description of her in the obituary stated:
Willystine Goodsell: Feminist and Reconstructionist Educator…progressive educator and
feminist, studied under John Dewey and spent 31 years on the faculty of the Teachers
College at Columbia University. As a board member of Social Frontier, a radical journal,
she became aligned with other well-known social reconstructionists. Goodsell produced a
large quantity and variety of writings… (Engel 1984)
Title: Hanna
Romaani
Translator: Hertta S.
Language: Finnish
Romaani
Kirj.
Suomentanut
Hertta S.
»Oi Jumala, hyvä Jumala, mitä minä kirjoitan… mitä voin sanoa
hänelle, onnettomalle miesparalle!»
»Hän rakastaa sinua, hän rakastaa sinua», sanoi hän hiljaa. »Hän
odottaa sinua, hän vie sinut satumaisen onnen syliin…»
Mutta vaikka huulet kuiskasivatkin sanan »onni», tiesi hän
kuitenkin valehtelevansa kauniille peilikuvalle. Hänestä tuntui, kuin
aavistamaton onnettomuus hiipisi hänen ympärillään. Mutta
pyörryttävä syvyys veti puoleensa; hänen jalkansa oli jo sen
reunalla, ja hänen täytyi syöksyä sinne. Päättävästi hän poistui peilin
luota kirjoituspöydän ääreen. Lattialla oli täytetty, vielä avonainen
matkalaukku. Hän oli kompastua siihen kumartuessaan sitä
sulkemaan. Sitten hän otti kirjoituspöydänlaatikosta kukkaron ja pani
sen palttoonsa taskuun. Hänestä tuntui, kuin joku muu kuin se, jonka
hän oli nähnyt peilistä, olisi toimittanut nämä koneelliset tehtävät.
Hän ei myöskään ollut se, joka kastoi kynän mustetolppoon ja lopetti
alotetun kirjeen.
»Kun sinä löydät tämän, ei sinulla enää ole vaimoa. Ajattele, että
hän on kuollut — hänelle ehkä olisi parempi niin. Älä sure minua,
en sitä ansaitse. Tule onnelliseksi, sinä hyvä, kylmä mies! Minua
odottavat taivaan hurmat… vai helvetinkö turmat! Sama se; en voi
vastustaa niitä. Siksi pakenen. Sinua olisi niin helppo pettää —
mutta kunniani, ylpeyteni sen estävät. Ei, suo anteeksi! Pyyhi pois
nämä sanat; minullahan ei ole enää kunniaa eikä ylpeyttä; minä
olen langennut vaimo raukka. Huuliani tosin eivät vielä synnilliset
suudelmat ole saastuttaneet, mutta eivät ne ole enää puhtaatkaan,
koska ne ovat lausuneet uskottoman myöntymyksen muukalaisen
pakoehdotukseen. Hyvästi! Ainoa lohdutukseni, ainoa
puolustukseni on, ettet minua rakasta. Rakkaimpasihan sinulle jää:
kirjasi. Näihin sanoihin ei sisälly moitetta. Kuinka uskaltaisin minä,
rikoksellinen, joka polvistuneena, pää kumarassa, viimeisen kerran
puhun sinulle, vielä yhdistää katkeria sanoja tähän katkeraan
tekoon. Usko minua, tämä viimeinen hetkeni hiljaisessa,
kunniallisessa, rauhaisessa kodissasi tuntuu minusta
kuolinhetkeltä. Äsken sulkiessani matkalaukkuni oli kuin olisin
virittänyt murha-aseen. Ja nyt kirjoitan joukon turhia asioita tälle
paperille, vaikka aikomukseni oli vain lyhyin sanoin ilmaista
poistumiseni…mutta miksi kirjoittaa enempää? Kätesi vapisee jo
rypistääkseen vihamielin tämän kirjeen, jonka halveksien heität
liekkeihin. Sinä tunnet nyt vain vihaa, oikeutettua inhoa onnetonta,
mieletöntä kohtaan, joka ei enää ole sinun omasi!
Johanna.»
Dori täti otti orvon tytön luokseen. Säästyneen pääoman, joka oli
aiottu suurta matkaa varten, hän otti huostaansa; se oli käytettävä
Hannan myötäjäisiksi, sillä hän toivoi voivansa pian naittaa hänet.
Kummitäti ei ollut koskaan saanut kuulla heidän korkealentoisista
tuumistaan, eikä Hanna niistä mitään puhunut; hän eli vain
surussaan.