LMLD (3): Challenges
The question I asked: "What were the main challenges you experienced in your vein of activism/work?"
Maria: My major challenge was getting my dissertation accepted by NYU because it ended up being somewhat anti-medical. What came out of it was the fact that women have been giving birth for many many years. [My thesis] challenged the medical model which is putting women in a medical facility and doing things to them as opposed to them being active participants in their own births. I learned about abortion issues that tended to be a challenge in the classroom. Discovering what [the pro-choice] world was about and how to teach it to young people especially since individuals came from many different backgrounds, some of which were quite religious. I tried to create an atmosphere where we could discuss. One thing I did that I felt was very exciting was, I would put up on the board everyone’s response to when conception begins. It was such an array of responses. I would say to the students, “So how do we make a law about this with all these diverse opinions of when conception begins.” I think lights went on. I feel that’s a key part of reproductive rights: people have to become aware before they can start to move towards making decisions. It precedes knowledge. It makes you think about issues that people don’t readily discuss. My sexuality courses were part of the Physical Education Department at Hunter. The Women’s Studies Department adopted it and they were much more friendly towards that then what I found in my own department. It was run by men, predominantly white men, privileged men. It was tough being in that particular department. Once we had a woman take over...she was so supportive of the course, my exploring health issues that went beyond the conventional physical education curriculum. We did HIV/AIDS education that came out of it. This was in the early 70s. I started teaching in 1969 but it was part-time. I had a young family, we had to juggle the household in that respect. It was shortly after [Christine] was born, I was offered a part-time job at Hunter. The sexuality class didn’t happen until the early 70s. From that, the women’s health class grew but that came at a later time. I don’t remember the exact date of it becoming part of the curriculum of women’s studies. It was an introductory course. It was a very exciting course. We talked about eugenics. There was a lot done around the birth control pill that was very sexist. It really did a number on poor women in the United States and women in other countries where the experimentations were taking place to approve. I learned a great deal by teaching both courses. At the time, the Hyde Amendment was passed. Before Roe v Wade, I had friends who talked about their back-alley abortions, getting picked up on corners to go to some obscure place - **[AUTHOR'S NOTE: At this point my grandma did start to cry]** - I could cry just talking about what these poor women went through. There was no choice, whether they were raped whether they couldn't afford another child. I mean it was just unbelievable what was going on at the time. These privileged men deciding what they should be doing around laws that concerned women. It was really heartbreaking; it was a very difficult time for a lot of us. We were worried about the states one by one trying to outlaw choice. That was one of the major issues that was going on at the time. That was after Roe v Wade. Even before it, from what I can recall. When I first started teaching, abortion was not legal, not even in New York State. It became legal later on.
Christine: I can’t say that I really faced challenges. I would say I was a beneficiary of a lot of hard work of Maria and Maria’s generation of women who fought for rights because by the time I came along, abortion was legal. I think the scary thing when I worked at Guttmacher was seeing the way the anti-choice movement was mobilizing. They would consistently, and still do consistently, attack Roe v Wade on an absolute basis. They also, more insidiously and dangerously, would attack abortion access on an incremental level and I think they have made serious inroads to decreasing women’s rights in that regard. That was scary and still is scary.
Alex
*New Like Mother, Like Daughter Installments are featured every Thursday*
My Grandmother joining my mother at her research presentation when she worked for the King County Department of Health in Seattle, WA (1996)