07-11 TABLE of CONTENTS:
New Day in Confronting the Evil of
Rape
DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
QUOTES by
Jean Baker Miller.
"We Will Not Break
Down the Stigma Until More Women Take Public Stands..."
A new day in confronting the evil of rape was
begun July 11, 1989, when the Des Moines (Iowa) Register, editor
Geneva Overholser questioned whether the media should publish the names
of rape victims.
Noting that it was her paper's policy not to publish
this information, Ms. Overholser explained why the policy troubled her:
"I believe that we will not break down the stigma
(associated with being a victim of rape) until more and more women take
public stands... Rape is an American shame. Our society needs to see that
and attend to it, not hide it or hush it up."
She urged women "who
have suffered this awful crime and attendant injustice to speak out."
On February 25 of the following year, the first of five articles by Jane
Schorer appeared in the Register that chronicled the abduction and
rape of Nancy Ziegenmeyer (who subsequently wrote a compelling book, Taking
Back My Life, 1992, about her experiences). The series won a Pulitzer
Prize for the Register. Nancy Ziegenmeyer says that each rape victim
must choose whether she comes forward or not, and she must choose the time.
She emphasized that every woman recovers at a different rate.
Of course there are different degrees and severity
of rapes ranging from a relatively pain-free type of vaginal intercourse
to brutalities and humiliations that defy description. Often the rapists
are not able to perform without extreme violence, fellatio, sodomy, etc.
A horrible percentage of women are physically ruined for life because of
beatings of their faces and bodies, knife cuts, and biting as well as unspeakable
horrors to their genitalia. Rape is an act of violence, not sex or love
and that can be seen in the ruined lives of its victims.
[Postscript: The Ziegenmeyer book is extremely
moving and a must read. Geneva Overholser resigned from the Register
over a dispute regarding the lowering of salaries of employees as well
as some philosophical differences. She is now with the Washington Post.
GO is the younger sister of Nannerl Overholser Keohane,
president of Duke University, the former president of Wellesley College
- and a member of the Women's Hall of Fame.
(It is the opinion of the author of WOA that rape
is the shame of the man, not the woman, and that society should offer him
up as a despicable creature and not make excuses for him. Not every abused
person abuses... it is a choice.) Later, Ziegenmeyer approved a TV telling
of her story that did not satisfy her. She also began to question her treatment
at the hands of the Des Moines paper.]
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07-11 DATES, ANNIVERSARIES, and
EVENTS
Event 07-11-1656: After five weeks of imprisonment to see if they
were witches, the first two followers of the Quaker faith to come to
the English Colonies in the Western Hemisphere - Ann Austin and Mary Fisher
- were allowed into Massachusetts Colony.
Their books were burned by the local hangman before
their release. The Puritans came to America to find religious freedom for
themselves and refused to extend it to others.
B. 07-11-1819, Susan Bogert Warner - remarkably prolific and popular
author said to be the first U.S. author to sell a million copies of
a book. SBW collaborated on several with her sister Anna Bartlett Warner
(08-31-1827) also a successful writer.
B. 07-11-1839, Clara Adams-Ender - U.S. nurse who became the
first black woman to be made Chief, Department of Nursing, Walter Reed
Army Medical Center.
B. 07-11-1854, Georgiana Emma Drew Barrymore, U.S. actor. Her
remarkable and very distinguished stage career was interrupted three times
to birth Lionel, Ethel, and John, all distinguished actors who continued
the tradition of the "royal family of the American
stage." Today's movie star Drew Barrymore is a direct descendant.
B. 07-11-1871, Edith Rickert - U.S. author. She worked menial
jobs to finance her education to a Ph.D. She instructed English at Vassar,
became becoming a full professor at the University of Chicago.
During World War I she worked as a decoder. ER authored
several novels and a number of definitive texts.
B. 07-11-1887, Ellen Sullivan Woodward - U.S. federal official
and state legislator.
Event 07-11-1953: France E. Willis became the first U.S. woman
career diplomat to be appointed an ambassador. She was the third woman
ambassador in U.S. history. FEW served in Switzerland during the mid 1950s.
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QUOTES DU JOUR
MILLER, JEAN BAKER:
"Women will
not advance except by joining together in cooperative action. What has
not been as clear is that no other group, so far, has had the benefit of
women's leadership, the advantage of women's deep and special strengths.
Most of these strengths have been hidden in this culture, and hidden from
women themselves."
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