I scanned these photos because they are so nice & I wanted to put them where I could find them
If you read the citation you will find that Michelle Goodman is a true heroine
Though generally I am against stories about the first woman this or that.
I am with another heroine, Florence Nightingale, on this:
Keep clear of the jargon about the ‘rights’ of women, which urges women to do all that men do, merely because men do it, & without regard to whether this is the best that women can do; and of that which urges women to do nothing men do, merely because they are women
You do not want the effect of your good things to be ‘How wonderful for a woman!’, YOU WANT TO DO THE THING THAT IS GOOD WHETHER IT IS SUITABLE FOR A WOMAN OR NOT
To praise women for doing what men do habitually is to reduce them to the status of Dr Howes Idiots whom, after 2 years of ceaseless labour he succeeded in teaching to eat with a knife & fork
Having said that, Michelle Goodmans achievement paradoxically reminds me of that old conundrum, which I have thought of much less as the years go by: What does it really feel like to be a man? (not nearly as different as many would have it)
