Lady Astronauts, Lady Engineers, and Naked Ladies: Women and the American Space Community during the Cold War, 1960s–1980s

477 Pages·2019·11.335 MB·English

by  Karin Hilck

KarinHilck
LadyAstronauts,LadyEngineers,andNakedLadies
Family Values
and Social Change
Edited by
Isabel Heinemann
Volume 5
Karin Hilck
Lady Astronauts,
Lady Engineers,
and Naked Ladies
Women and the American space community
during the Cold War, 1960s–1980s
PublishedwiththekindsupportoftheWaltherBlohmfoundationandtheFAZITfoundation.
ISBN978-3-11-062615-5
e-ISBN(PDF)978-3-11-062982-8
e-ISBN(EPUB)978-3-11-062618-6
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2019931200
BibliographicinformationpublishedbytheDeutscheNationalbibliothek
TheDeutscheNationalbibliothekliststhispublicationintheDeutscheNationalbibliografie;
detailedbibliographicdataareavailableontheInternetathttp://dnb.dnb.de.
©2019WalterdeGruyterGmbH,Berlin/Boston
Typesetting:IntegraSoftwareServicesPvt.Ltd.
Printingandbinding:CPIbooksGmbH,Leck
Coverimage:EdWalshStudio,Pittsburgh,in:JerrieCobbCollection,
SchlesingerLibrary,RadcliffeInstitute,HarvardUniversity.
www.degruyter.com
FürPapa
Ichvermissedich.
MartinHagen
1956−2016

Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Mappingthespacecommunity 12
2.1 Ashorthistoryoftheinternationalspacecommunity 18
2.1.1 Thebifurcatedbirthofastronautics−sciencefiction 18
2.1.2 Thebifurcatedbirthofastronautics−rocketry 25
2.1.3 Post-warastrofuturism 30
2.1.4 TheSputnikshock 34
2.1.5 Militaryspaceexploration 36
2.1.6 NASA’snarrative 41
2.1.7 Theroleoftheaerospaceindustry 50
2.2 MappingNASA 55
2.3 Amandalanetworkofoverlappingcommunities 60
3 Mediaspaceinthe1960s,1970s,and1980s 65
3.1 Astronettesandthecosmonetteinthe1960s 67
3.1.1 Cartoonesquedepictionsoffemaleastronauts 69
3.1.2 Thefemaleastronautbody’sdepictionasadisruptive
force 75
3.1.3 Approachesofimaginingfemaleastronauts 78
3.1.4 ValentinaTereshkova’shistoricspaceflightintheAmerican
publicdiscourse 85
3.1.5 Genderedframingofthediscourse 92
3.2 Ladyengineersandastrowivesinthe1960s 95
3.2.1 FramingfemalescientistsasimportantfortheAmerican
spaceeffort 98
3.2.2 Genderedframingofthereportagesaboutthefemale
scientists 102
3.2.3 Framingastronauts’wivesasimportantfortheAmerican
spaceeffort 109
3.2.4 Genderedframingofthereportagesabouttheastronauts’
wives 113
3.3 Libbers,glamournautsandateachernautinthe1970sand
1980s 122
3.3.1 Feminists’shamingofNASA 123
3.3.2 Genderedframingofthediscourseaboutthefirstfemale
astronauts 137
3.3.3 Femaleastronautsandthewomen’smovement 142
VIII Contents
3.3.4 ThecaseofSallyRide 148
3.3.5 ThecaseofChristaMcAuliffe 153
3.4 Mediaspaceandthespacecommunity 161
4 Officespaceinthe1960sand1970s 164
4.1 Femalesecretariesandscientists–adoublestandard 169
4.2 Theimplicitnessofthesecretarialstaff 173
4.3 Barrierstothepursuitofacareerinadministration 175
4.4 Recreationalactivitiesforwomen 181
4.5 Theestablishmentofwomen’smovementchaptersinthe
spacecommunity 199
4.6 NASA’shiringandpromotionsystem–female
perspectives 205
4.7 Minorities’standingintheoffice 210
4.8 NASA’ssocialrewardsystem 213
4.9 Asexualworkatmosphere 216
4.10 Theswitchtonon-genderspecificlanguage 220
4.11 Appropriateworkattireforwomen 221
4.12 Officespaceandthespacecommunity 224
5 Labspaceinthelate1950sand1960s 226
5.1 Thesignificanceofasupportsystem−family 236
5.2 Thesignificanceofasupportsystem−school 240
5.3 Agenderedhierarchyofthescientificdisciplines 247
5.4 Discriminatoryinformalstructures 254
5.5 Sharingaworkspace–maleandfemaleresponses 259
5.6 Labdresscode 265
5.7 Thematterofsexualharassment 269
5.8 Onesex–differentopinions 274
5.9 Avarietyofcopingstrategies 278
5.10 Theexperienceofwomenofcolor 282
5.11 Managingculturalexpectations 287
5.12 Labspaceandthespacecommunity 295
6 Workspaceinthe1960sand1970s 296
6.1 Artspace−CeceBibby 296
6.1.1 Nakedladiesgotchas 300
6.2 Visitorspace−guardettes 309
6.3 Sciencefictionspace–Lt.Uhura 314
6.4 Newsroomspace−LillianLevy 326
Contents IX
6.5 Legislationspace−EileneMarieGalloway 329
6.6 Workspaceandthespacecommunity 337
7 Equalspaceinthe1970s 339
7.1 TheformationoftheEEOoffice–lawsandpolicies 345
7.2 TheEEOoffice 359
7.2.1 TheAffirmativeActionandEvaluationDivision 363
7.2.2 TheMinorityUniversityResearchandEducationDivision 365
7.2.3 TheFederalWomen’sProgram 367
7.2.4 TheDiscriminationComplaintDivision 372
7.3 VaryingdegreesofcommitmenttoEEO 384
7.4 TheaccusationofEEOasreversediscrimination 390
7.5 EEO:minoritiesvs.women 393
7.6 MappingEEOperformance 398
7.7 DiscriminationwithintheEEOoffice 404
7.8 Equalspaceandthespacecommunity 409
8 LadyAstronauts,LadyEngineers,andNakedLadiesandthe
spacecommunity 411
Abbreviations 420
ArchiveDirectory 423
Bibliography 424
Acknowledgements 445
Index 446