Sally Ride and that filk song about women in space

[kanef]

I've thought from time to time about the Childs-Helton filk song about women in space, which Barry still performs to this day, at least in the context of the OVFF Farewell Jam.  There's something about it that vaguely bothers me, and I used to think it might be that these days it's thoroughly outdated, because women have been going to space for a

Comments

[catsittingstill]

I'm not sure I've heard that song, so I can't comment on it specifically, but your points are both valid. Women are actors in our own right, and male-female pair bonding is not universal, should not be priveledged over other bonds, and frankly, space is presently a place to work, rather than a place to court--though perhaps that last will eventually change if people start spending longer periods in space.

But it does seem to me that movements toward equality often look back and see that earlier stages weren't as enlightened as they thought at the time. In its time the song was probably doing pretty well.

[kanef]

Good points and well said.

[janeg]

I can't remember the words to that song, but do often sing Valerie Housden's lovely Following in Valentina's Footsteps, which makes no mention of mates or any such stuff.

Tanya Huff also wrote a good song about women astronauts. TTTO the country song Who Would You Be. Again, nothing about mates!

[batyatoon]

Exactly. Yes. Women belong in space because people belong in space.

And yes, heterosexism. I'm ashamed to admit that that particular aspect of it might not have occurred to me on just hearing the song. (Which I don't think I've ever actually heard.)

Some of the words

[kanef]

Anyone remember the words better than me? What I remember is something like this, meant to be a sort of Caribbean dialect judging from the simulated accent with which Barry recorded it:

Once an old friend, he ask of me,
"Do the woman belong in space?"
"Well, do the man belong in time?" I say.
That's what make him walk away with such a worried face.

Away! Don't you hitch up your wagon to a star
Unless you go with her, away!
Don't leave her all alone,
Locked(?) up the the home all day.

Talk about your woman astronaut,
I'll take any Yankeeman's bet
....?

Earthbound woman oh so sad.
It's a mystery to me,
Why we have not let her be
Proud and free in zero g
Since 1963.

Re: Some of the words

[kanef]

And I realize now that the line "Don't you hitch up your wagon to a star unless you go with her" particularly bothered me. Saying essentially "You shouldn't go into space without taking your wife or girlfriend with you" is insulting not just to women.

Also

[kanef]

Some people would say that a song that makes disturbs people because it makes them think about something that normally never think about is succeeding in doing just what it should.

In this case, I'm not so sure. The line "Proud and free in zero g" always makes me think about bras, something there are very few people in this culture who think less about than I do and which I'm not comfortable having in my head.