Emma Darwin, a Life Imagined

November 29, 2012 by Kate Robinson

REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM JOHN VAN WYHE ED. 2002-. THE COMPLETE WORK OF CHARLES DARWIN ONLINE. (HTTP://DARWIN-ONLINE.ORG.UK/)

As we examine women’s contributions to history, we must be careful not to overstate or inflate their true involvement. With November marking the anniversary of Darwin’s publication of ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, I wrote an article about Emma Darwin after reading that she was the deciding factor in Charles’ Darwin’s publication of the book. I was amazed that Darwin placed the manuscript for his monumental work into Emma’s hands, and more or less told her that he’d destroy the pages if she thought it heresy, since evolution flew in the face of their strong and shared religious beliefs. Thus, while Emma is known to have said that she felt what Charles was publishing would condemn them both to hell, she is claimed to have approved it regardless. Not only did she approve it, she made margin notes and asked questions or pointed out places that needed clarification.

It seems that some authors have taken what was essentially an editorial role, one played out by spouses throughout history, and claimed it for much more than it was. When I requested permission to use the image of Emma Darwin included herein, I mentioned my astonishment at the story, and received a reply from a Darwin scholar who was just as astonished. Dr. John van Wyhe, who is the director of The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online, wrote asking for my reference source. I sent him back the author’s name of a book about the Darwins. His reply confirmed that Emma’s influence and contributions have been overblown, and are a myth perpetuated like others about Darwin. He confirms that such rumors have been republished in a great many sources, and thus seem valid for their repeated publication. However, says Dr. van Wyhe, that does not make them true. (For a graduate student, this warning is apropos, and reminds me to seek a more reliable or first-hand source for information, rather than trust paraphrasing on behalf of another researcher.) And, in my own defense, since I had never heard this story before, and assumed it was another case of women being belittled in historical accounts, I sought the author’s source, which I could not find. Thus, I feel especially glad that I was prescient enough to mention the purpose and subject matter of the proposed article when I requested permission to use the image.

I know that I asked back in September that we demand from historians and academic publishers the whole story of history. I asked that marginal peoples be included, whether those were women involved in early union formation, stories from the black perspective in the civil rights movement, or various other minorities whose names are not famous and whose contributions are all but forgotten. However, I also do not want mountains made of proverbial molehills. We don’t need to imagine influence. Rather, I ask that the everyday experience of individuals who lived in particular times be considered. This makes me think of the DIARY OF ANNE FRANK. Her diary is not remarkable for any reason other than that she lived in an extraordinary time and recorded in her diary her lived experience as a Jewish person, and that the journal survived and made it to print. These are the stories of history that we need so that we understand the past in a way that helps us imagine and bring forth a better future. We don’t need fake, embellished or exalted stories. As with the relationship between Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson, we may never know the reality of it or any of its truths. We may never know whether Emma Darwin had much influence over Charles’s publication of ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES like we know that Tabitha King weighs in on Stephen King’s stories before they reach the eye of a professional editor. As we seek to increase our knowledge not just of dates, places and famous male names, we should not make more of women’s contributions for the sake of imagining greatness. The plain story, like Anne Frank’s, is just as significant when viewed as a part of the overall history of a time and place.

Joy Harjo’s Poetry—Something for Which to be Thankful

First published November 22, 2012 at http://www.hercircleezine.com/2012/11/22/joy-harjos-poetry-something-for-which-to-be-thankful/

KATE’S KITCHEN TABLE, IN DETAIL

There are so many things for which I feel thankful. The poetry of amazingly talented women writers is one of these. It was over eight years ago that I first read Joy Harjo’s PERHAPS THE WORLD ENDS HERE in a book about Thanksgiving and creating family rituals to celebrate. To me, Thanksgiving is about gathering people together, sustaining one another with love and sharing the good fortune we have of plentiful food, and a home open to family, friends and strangers alike in which we may share such bounty.

Another other thing for which I’m thankful is the kitchen table. Joy Harjo captures the essence of the table in her poem, PERHAPS THE WORLD ENDS HERE, which she has graciously allowed me to reprint herein. My kitchen table (pictured in detail) with the paint, glue, marker and indentations from my children growing, creating, learning and discovering at it fills me with gratitude. At one time, my husband and I considered refinishing the table once the children were grown. Now, we cherish the marks. They remind us of the stages of our children’s lives. We revere the table itself, and give thanks for its solid-footed presence, its offering as a place and space where we are nourished, fight, make memories, dream and…oh, let the poem say it much more eloquently:

Perhaps the World Ends Here
By Joy Harjo

THE WORLD BEGINS AT A KITCHEN TABLE. NO MATTER WHAT, WE MUST EAT TO LIVE.

THE GIFTS OF THE EARTH ARE BROUGHT AND PREPARED, SET ON THE TABLE. SO IT HAS BEEN SINCE CREATION, AND IT WILL GO ON.

WE CHASE CHICKENS OR DOGS AWAY FROM IT. BABIES TEETHE AT THE CORNERS. THEY SCRAPE THEIR KNEES UNDER IT.

IT IS HERE THAT CHILDREN ARE GIVEN INSTRUCTION ON WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN. WE MAKE MEN AT IT, WE MAKE WOMEN.

AT THIS TABLE WE GOSSIP, RECALL ENEMIES AND THE GHOSTS OF LOVERS.

OUR DREAMS DRINK COFFEE WITH US AS THEY PUT THEIR ARMS AROUND OUR CHILDREN. THEY LAUGH WITH US AT OUR POOR FALLING-DOWN SELVES AND AS WE PUT OURSELVES BACK TOGETHER AGAIN AT THE TABLE.

THIS TABLE HAS BEEN A HOUSE IN THE RAIN, AN UMBRELLA IN THE SUN.

WARS HAVE BEGUN AND ENDED AT THIS TABLE. IT IS A PLACE TO HIDE IN THE SHADOW OF TERROR. A PLACE TO CELEBRATE THE TERRIBLE VICTORY.

WE HAVE GIVEN BIRTH ON THIS TABLE, AND HAVE PREPARED OUR PARENTS FOR BURIAL HERE.

AT THIS TABLE WE SING WITH JOY, WITH SORROW. WE PRAY OF SUFFERING AND REMORSE. WE GIVE THANKS.

PERHAPS THE WORLD WILL END AT THE KITCHEN TABLE, WHILE WE ARE LAUGHING AND CRYING, EATING OF THE LAST SWEET BITE.

I want to specifically recognize Native Americans who do not necessarily view Thanksgiving in the same way as those whose ancestors were immigrants to this country. I do not wish to appropriate Joy Harjo’s poem and use it to gloss over the genocide of Native Americans and celebrate what many consider a specifically American holiday. Rather, outside of the historical context, may this day be one on which we feel sincere gratitude, especially for Native Americans who welcomed many of our ancestors, even though those ancestors eventually betrayed the generosity extended to them.

On this Thanksgiving of 2012, I wish you joy to sing at your own table, and hope your suffering and sorrows are few.

PERHAPS THE WORLD ENDS HERE was originally published in THE WOMAN WHO FELL FROM THE SKY, W.W. Norton, 1994.

"Sweet Hell on Fire" Book Review

 First published at http://www.hercircleezine.com/2012/11/15/sweet-hell-on-fire-a-memoir-of-the-prison-i-worked-in-and-the-prison-i-lived-in/ on November 15, 2012.

I read Sara Lunsford’s SWEET HELL ON FIRE: A MEMOIR OF THE PRISON I WORKED IN AND THE PRISON I LIVED IN, and loved this very different kind of memoir from a woman writer. Sara is promoting the book with a Virtual Book Tour this month, and inContext is happy to be a part of that. I had a few questions for Sara about the book: its contents, the writing process and her forays into publishing, which she kindly answered. As part of the Virtual Book Tour, inContext is pleased to announce a BOOK GIVEAWAY! Submit a comment on this interview and be entered to win a copy. The book will be mailed the first week of December, with names drawn November 30, 2012.

Kate: What was the most difficult thing as a woman working in corrections?

Sara: Most people would think that it would be getting used to seeing hundreds of naked men a day. That really wasn’t a big deal for me. We all have bodies and they all have to be washed, dressed, etc. What was the most difficult for me was I had to learn not to apply the behavior patterns of most of these men to all men. There are good and bad people, male and female, in prison and out. I had started to paint everyone with the same brush.

Kate: What do you think needs to be done to make corrections work more welcoming for women?

Sara: Let me preface this by saying I know so many women who do The Job and do it well. I’d trust them with my life. But no one else needs to do anything to make corrections welcoming for women EXCEPT WOMEN. There are already adequate laws and policies in place. The perception that women are a risk and don’t belong in the environment isn’t going to change until so many of us stop getting involved with inmates and endangering our fellow officers. It isn’t always women that get caught up, but the majority of incidents with officer/inmate relations are women.

On the surface, it may seem like this isn’t a big deal. Aside from being a sex offense, because no one in your legal custody can consent to sexual activity, it leads to violence. This happens either through the introduction of contraband, inmates wanting the same thing other inmates are getting (sex, special privileges, etc.), or if the officer breaks off the affair. Riots have been started for less and that situation puts everyone’s life on the line.

Kate: How has your experience as a correction’s officer affected your life today? 

Sara: It’s affected me in so many ways. What I went through both personally and professionally was a baptism by fire. Those experiences made me actively choose the life I want and the person I want to be.

I took some of the little quirks of the job with me. I never sit with my back to a door, I won’t eat food I’ve left unattended, and I’m always planning in my head for any situation that could arise out of whatever is happening to me at the moment.

It’s made me a better writer, not only where craft is concerned, but it’s prepared me for people who don’t like my books and want to tell me about it personally. After having three hundred guys make disparaging comments about everything from my hair to the size of my butt, someone disliking my book is kind of passé as far as my ego is concerned.

Kate: Was the process of writing the book cathartic?

Sara: It was most certainly cathartic. I didn’t think it would be. When I started writing, I thought it was going to be just like telling the other stories about things that have happened to me. It wasn’t. After I got into the meat of the project, there were times it was like picking open an old wound, but cutting deeper. Catharsis happened when I realized that everything that had happened to me had been for a reason. Seeing this project as a whole gave me purpose: to help other people. 

I know that there are people who have gone through worse than what I went through, people who are suffering and think it’s never going to get better. But it did for me. I came through. I’m still here. I am living my best life. If I can help them do the same, then it was worth it.

Kate: How did publishers react to your book? 

Sara: My agent and I did a round of submissions and we got a lot of great feedback. The subject material was too gritty for some. My book opens with me on my hands and knees in someone’s brain matter. That’s a tough read, but it’s how things happened. I didn’t sugar coat anything.

I actually did have one rejection that stayed in my head for a while. The editor said that she thought the “heroine” (me) was a know-it-all in the beginning and a know-it-all at the end and she didn’t learn anything and that was boring. That floored me because I learned so much about myself, love, redemption, forgiveness. The days in this book totally changed my life—me.

I’ve had a lot of people say that I’m strong, but I don’t know if that’s the case. I’ve just lived the life I’ve been given, tried to fix my mistakes and ultimately decided to be happy. But I’m not worried about receiving support. I’d rather be the one giving it. I’ve already crawled out of that pit. Yeah, some bad things happened to me, but they’re over and done with. They can’t be undone. I’m at peace with that. So the best thing, the right thing for me now is to have a voice for those who don’t and try to help others where I can.

Kate: Thanks for being so open with us and sharing your experiences. I wish you every success with your Virtual Book Tour.

Sara: Thanks so much for having me at Her Circle.

Book Giveaway
Leave a comment at the bottom of this inContext interview anytime from November 15th-30th in order to qualify for a chance to win a copy of SWEET HELL ON FIRE: A MEMOIR OF THE PRISON I WORKED IN AND THE PRISON I LIVED IN. Entrants must be 18 years or older with an address in Canada or the United States. No purchase is necessary. The winner will be chosen randomly and notified by November 30, 2012. Her Circle Ezine respects your privacy and does not share email addresses with third parties.

Gains Made by Women in the 2012 Election

First published at http://www.hercircleezine.com/2012/11/08/gains-made-by-women-in-the-2012-election/ November 8, 2012

We women went out and voted in record numbers in the election this week in the U.S. Women of all colors, ethnicities, races, socio-economic statuses and sexual orientations voted to re-elect President Obama. Likewise, women’s votes (and women candidates) made great strides with states like New Hampshire sending all women senators and representatives to Washington, and also electing a woman Governor. Landmark evens like the election of Massachusetts’ first female senator in candidate Elizabeth Warren and the election of openly lesbian candidate Tammy Baldwin were standard in this election instead of a single incidence across the country. The voices of the less-often-heard-from were heard loud and clear in the act of voting.

Maine, Washington and Maryland passed laws adding these states to the number that allow same-sex marriage. Minnesota defeated a measure that would have defined marriage through a Constitutional amendment as between one man and one woman. While the fact that these things come to a popular vote on a ballot remains disturbing, steps forward cannot be denied with these positive results.

Republican candidates who make bogus claims about biology, which they clearly do not understand in even the most rudimentary manner, were ousted from positions and lost their elections. Those who would claim that “legitimate” rape (a phrase some of us are still wondering about the meaning of) cannot result in pregnancy were schooled on what happens when their views about abortion itself get taken to an extreme and demonstrate their ignorance of basic biological science. Those who claimed that women who underwent abortions after discovering pregnancies after rape were punishing the child or not valuing “God’s gift,” learned that not only are women tired of men trying to determine what goes on in their bodies, but also that we’re tired of being blamed as victims of what is a violent crime.

As if all of this news about gains made by women in office was not enough, I want to share something personal about this election. At 1:43a.m. EST on November 7, 2012, while I listened to news reports and the President’s acceptance speech, my daughter who is away at college sent me a text saying, “For the first time, really, I am proud to say I’m an American! And, it feels so good to be able to say that!” At that moment, I thought back to September 11, 2001 when the terrorist attacks occurred. That was when my daughter’s faith in her country began to wane—at the ripe age of six! Over the years, she has been grateful for our country and its freedoms, for the efforts of our troops in every conflict throughout history and for keeping us safe at home. She has appreciated the open discussion even if it has turned nasty at times. She’s appreciated the freedom to express her opinion, and realizes the privilege it is to live in a country where she, as a woman, will be able to vote at eighteen, and can seek not only education, but also have an almost equal chance at finding a job with that college education as a woman. (Some might argue that she’d be more likely than a man to get a job, while others would say that she’d get the job, but only because she’d work for 77% of what a man would be paid for the same position.) These (and more) benefits of being a citizen of the United States have not been lost on her. However, in this election, even more than in 2008, her hope (yes, that word from the Obama campaign) that real change can occur has been realized. She has not only come of age when this nation elected the first African American President, but also then re-elected him, and sent more women into Congress and various legislatures across the country. Here’s to you, women voters of America!

Progressive Nuns?

First published October 18, 2012 at http://www.hercircleezine.com/2012/10/18/october-11-2012/

Like many feminists, I never thought I’d use the word “progressive” to describe Catholic nuns. However, after learning about the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), I have to say that I’m amazed at the work of this group. While connected to the Catholic faith, LCWR works to promote women in the Catholic religion as leaders. The group also participates in humanitarian efforts. Another surprise is that this group expands the focus of “right to life” issues to include working toward the eradication of hunger, repealing of the death penalty where it exists, and stopping war. Additionally, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious believes that fetal rights are not the only consideration where abortion is concerned. And, the LCWR hopes to influence the Catholic Church in its acceptance of homosexuality to welcome all peoples rather then condemning them.

PHOTO: DAVID MOJADO

These stances are indeed radical for Catholicism and have placed the LCWR at odds with the Vatican. In fact, American bishops have been sent by the Vatican to oversee the organization to attempt to bring the group into line with what the Vatican considers the Church’s teachings. Specifically, the Vatican charges the LCWR with going against Church doctrine on issues related to homosexuality, birth control and what they consider radical feminist thought that stems from the organization. To their credit, the LCWR is more than willing to begin a dialogue with the Vatican about Catholic doctrine, yet (no surprise here) the Vatican would rather issue mandates versus discuss anything at all. This stance proves that the Vatican remains anti-woman, of course.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious believes the Church must evolve (pun intended—I couldn’t help myself!) to meet the society and culture in which we live today. The nuns who are part of the LCWR claim that their work at the front lines of humanitarian efforts put them in touch with the lives of people as they are lived, not as one might merely desire them to be. For over forty years, the LCWR has advocated for the ordination of women. Much of that time, the group has been relatively silent about their desire for leadership. Even while they are publicly silent, leaders with the LCWR continue to ask themselves and one another about what it means that the Vatican and church leadership seem to fear women and not value their leadership potential.

The most surprising aspect of what I learned about the Leadership Conference of Women Religious is that while many in the group work toward asking women to choose to continue pregnancies over aborting them, there are a significant number of nuns who consider the rights of those already born as just as important and significant as those of the unborn. The LCWR claims that policies and positions that are pro-fetus versus pro-life need to be reconsidered. They consider hunger, war and the death penalty as just as important to the Catholic conversation about being pro-life as abortion.

Even as I remain an atheist feminist, I find it encouraging that women, who belong to what are considered anti-women faiths, still work toward empowering women within their faith. That the Leadership Conference for Women Religious continues to ask for not only power, but also a dialogue with the Church on issues related to their experience working with people directly is inspiring. I’m not sure I’d have the patience to work so tirelessly for decades, and I admire the faith of the nuns in the LCWR that allows them to remain committed to their religion even as they work to change it so that it reflects more of who they are rather than merely accepting the doctrines of Catholicism on blind faith.

Some Assembly (and Possibly Some Revision) Required

First published at http://www.hercircleezine.com/2012/10/25/october-18-2012/ on October 18, 2012. 

In Annie Lamott’s SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED (with Sam Lamott, Riverhead Books, 2012), the author writes, “To have mothered this young father fills me with visceral feelings of awe, joy and dread.” This statement sums up my own feelings about parenthood. I’m regularly awed when I consider the growth of my children over the years. Sure, you don’t notice each day specifically, that quarter inch of height or the reduction of the curved belly of toddlerhood into the taught stomach of adolescence. Yet, when you stop and consider your child, at whatever stage or point of development, both physical and otherwise, you can’t help except be awed at the utter strangeness of it all, even as it is mundane and expected. It’s like watching a sunrise or sunset, really. I mean, sure the sun is going to rise and set, yet when we take the time to see it, that, too, can be visceral and awesome.

This “visceral” nature of parenting is what I believe is at the heart of this past summer’s “having it all” hoopla. Arguing against brain chemistry having much to do with male and female response to what is perceived as “danger” for their children, I believe it is social conditioning. Men take “flight” and go to work (and remain there) in response to the needs of their children. Women, in contrast, are socialized to “fight” and to remain at home (or at their children’s school or hospital bedside) and to leave work behind.

So, what is feminism supposed to make of both the male and female visceral feeling of parenthood? I think feminism needs to lead the discussion to our social and cultural mores and normalize the different responses to parenting exhibited by individuals. We cannot see fathers who work as supporting families and mothers who work as abandoning them. Maybe as we watch Marissa Meyer take the helm of a major corporation even as she becomes a mother to another child, we don’t judge her or say she’s setting us all up. Maybe her response, though culturally and socially outside the norm for women, is to charge headlong into work upon delivering, in the same way we would laud a man for doing. At the same time, we need to make room for more men to join the ranks of the stay-at-home parents, who remain in place with their young children, rather than go off to work.

In order to accept and commend both roles, a sea change the likes of which all this debate of “having it all” has been about is required. That sea change, though, is not just business and government enacting policy. The sea change is Lamott’s visceral feeling. We must open our hearts and minds to these differences in individuals, and not claim they’re mandated by gender. We need to revise our thinking about the value of unpaid work in this world. We need to value the care a home requires, and the care required by children. This way, we don’t give everyone the “right” to work, while still demeaning the caregiving role.

Voting and Issues Related to Birth Control and Abortion Access

First published October 11, 2012 http://www.hercircleezine.com/2012/10/11/voting-and-issues-related-to-birth-control-and-abortion-access/

PHOTO: THERESA THOMPSON

Jennifer Granholm, former Michigan governor, television host and visiting professor at the University of California at Berkley, wrote about what she calls sexual McCarthyism of legislative efforts since the 2010 election in the federal and state congresses. Toward the end of her article, she cited opinion polls that show President Obama ahead of all Republican candidates amongst women voters. She wrote that women “may need to fight the same fight their grandmothers fought in the 60’s.” Lastly, she says that women will be out en-force to vote in the next election, assuming that the votes from women will go to pro-woman, progressive candidates.

While I realize that opinion polls are used far and wide in coverage of election issues, and help candidates decide on which issues they should focus or highlight in campaign materials, I’m concerned about the gender-specific nature of the rhetoric about the upcoming election in the U.S. where funding of Planned Parenthood and legislation around abortion access and birth control are concerned. Sure, not too many of our grandfathers were necessarily promoting access to abortion in the same numbers as our grandmothers. There weren’t so many grandfathers out there advocating for birth control access, either. It was a different time, and yes, I will use that pat phrase to sum up what would take several articles to address as to the actions (or non-actions) of many men around these issues that certainly have an impact on men just as much as they do on women.

I will ride this tangent for a moment, though, as I consider why more men are not out there writing about and advocating for women’s access to abortion and birth control. What is your first thought about a man who stands up on a sidewalk or walks in a march carrying a “pro” birth control pill banner? Well, plenty of guys who do this kind of thing are accused of desiring less responsibility for themselves. The same holds true for abortion. Any man who “advocates for” or supports abortion rights might be viewed as someone who merely wants the woman to “take care of” an unplanned pregnancy. In these two areas, men can’t win. If they’re against either, they are seen as against women. I believe that men should not have a say in what I do with my body. No man should have any say about me using birth control to avoid pregnancy. Not a priest, not the president and not even her husband should have any say in whether a woman continues a pregnancy either. That said, men are then caught in a quandary as they may be called upon to support offspring they never intended. And, THAT said, I believe that the decision must always rest with the woman, and so that any man engaging in heterosexual sex must be aware of the possible consequences. He must be ready to embrace either the loss of his potential child or the prospect of supporting a child he does not necessarily want. That’s just part of being a responsible partner in heterosexual sex.

Now that I’ve given men a “free pass” where public advocacy is concerned for abortion or birth control issues, that doesn’t give men an excuse to not become part of the political movement to which many women, including Ms. Granholm (and this author) belong. We need men to not only run the risk of being accused of controlling women in the opposite manner when they advocate for birth control and abortion access, but also to get out and vote for candidates who are going to protect and not jeopardize women’s need for greater access and less restriction for both birth control and abortion. The U.S. election is less than a month from now. Vote to protect the rights of women.