Helen Gurley Brown and the Woman Scientist
Hi friends of women in science,
When Helen Gurley Brown passed away recently, I was reminded of another era, when free love was thought by some to be the best freedom a woman could find. The pill had been invented, and Brown's quip became famous, "Good girls go to heaven, but bad girls go everywhere." As editor of Cosmopolitan, she purveyed a lot of ways women could make themselves more attractive to men so as to have the freedom she advoated. Is this trend over now?
Not really. A couple of weeks ago, someone emailed me a link to a service that will feminize women academics or scientists so they can appeal to a man and achileve connection. Advice like "Don't dominate the conversation,' "wear feminine clothes," and "ask about what he's interested in," took me right back to Helen Gurley Brown's ambiguous message: Women are free, but free to please men. I had a hard time with it then and I still do.
Here's the bone I would have picked with Brown, had we ever met. What chance does a relationship have to grow and blossom when it's founded on a lie? If you are a forthright and outspoken person and you learn to listen, that's one thing. But if you "put on" listening and go out cruising for men, that's something else, a lie on which no good relationship can be built. Of course, one-and-done relationships don't really need a strong foundation, but I never found them enticing. That may be where we differed.
Anyone else out there remember Brown's heyday and/or have reactions to these musings?
cheers,
Laura
Hi Eliza,
Yes there was a big change after we knew about HIV, but at first women thought heterosexual men weren't a big risk. It wasn't until people understood it was everywhere that precautions became more prevalent. And I have some of those students who think they are masters of the universe and no way could they get HIV too. Sadly, some of them will be proven wrong.
cheers,
Laura
Dear Laura,
Wow, of course this was the day before AIDS so no one had to worry about that, or i guess not anyway. It's hard to imagine a world before HIV was discovered, but Brown was big back then.
Did you notice a big change once HIV was discvered? I guess I still have some students who believe they are invinceable or that none of their friends could be infected.
Eliza
Dear Laura,
A trip down memory lane for me! Well, I was more into the short term fun for a while, but then when I wanted to settle down, I had some trouble. Eventually, I found someone in the lab, someone I had known and never really tried to impress, so I didn't have to reveal a self he didn't know. So in a sense you are right. Maybe I was more of a hippie than you were.
MB
