Friday Hoyden: Grace Hopper

“I invent the Future”

USN Rear Admiral “Amazing” Grace Hopper (1906-1992), mathematician, computer pioneer, marketing innovator, academic and above all guru of the importance of embracing change, has a special place in the heart of many a female nerd/geek. She was also known as the Grand Lady of Software and Grandma COBOL.

As a child of seven she notoriously took not only her own alarm clock apart, but then another six alarm clocks in the house trying to figure out how to put her own clock back together: when she was discovered she was restricted to tinkering with just one clock. This charming story is an early sign of a love of gadgets, fully supported by her parents, that never left her.

Rear Admiral Grace Hopper helped to develop an early computer, invented the compiler making possible higher level computer languages, and helped to define the design of the programming language COBOL. First a member of the WAVES and the US Naval Reserve, Grace Hopper retired from the Navy several times before returning and gaining the rank of Rear Admiral. (about.com)

Amazing Grace was one of the pioneers of viewing computers as more than just giant calculators, and advocating their potential as key elements of information systems. She was also a renowned mentor of all information technicians, and particularly of women in maths and science careers.

Filed under: Friday Hoyden, technology, urban legends

Friday Hoyden: Keiko Fukuda

I was a judo player through my university years. Judo was an essential ingredient in my personal realisation of my bodily strength and mental power. I learned that I could jump, fall, roll, lift, and throw; and I learned that I could escape a stranglehold or an armlock or a larger person trying to pin me to the ground. Women were outnumbered by men in our club, but much better represented than in other adult judo clubs: we made an effort to welcome and respect women. I competed in national Intervarsity competitions, and I helped teach a beginner’s class for women and men just starting explore judo as art or as sport. Judo was an key ingredient in the start of my adult journey toward feminism. I learned that I could be strong instead of vulnerable; that I could compete in a physical sport and not just in academics (I hated high school sport!); that I could lead and organise in a male-dominated arena; and even that it was ok to be sweaty and dishevelled and grunt and shout.

Every martial artist needs a hero: mine was Keiko Fukuda, and she’s a hero in anyone’s language.

[image credit: Judo Info]

Fukuda, born in 1913, was a judo student studying under the founder of the martial art, Jigoro Kano, and is his last living pupil. From JudoInfo:

When Fukuda began taking lessons in 1935, she was one of only two-dozen women in the school, which is known today as the Kodokan International Judo Center. Kano had invited her to study judo because of her martial art lineage. She was the granddaughter of a renowned jujitsu master, who had taught that Japanese martial art to Kano. “At that time, I was only 21 years old, being taught the ways of Flower Arranging, Formal Tea Ceremony and Brush Writing, which was customary for young ladies in Japanese society,” Fukuda wrote in her 1973 book, “Born for the Mat”.

Filed under: Friday Hoyden, history, sport

Friday Hoyden: Pippi Longstocking

[image credit: kiddie matinee]

I loved Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking as a kid, and I’m just rediscovering her now at bedtime read-aloud with my four-year-old. Pippi is a quintessential hoyden, the obvious choice for my first Friday Hoyden piece. As a quick google “define:hoyden” search will tell you, the word “hoyden” has traditionally been used as a perjorative for girls or women who are “spirited”, “tomboyish” or “behave in a boyish manner”. Like “tomboy” and “harridan”, “hoyden” has been used to dismiss and shame women who don’t conform to traditional scripts of patriarchally-enforced femininity. Well, we’re reclaiming it.

Pippi is everything I wanted to be as a child but didn’t know how – outrageous, loud, anti-authoritarian, strong, free-spirited, messy, generous, powerful, and brutally honest. She is self-sufficient, thinks “ladylike” is a loud of hooey, and is an efficient dispenser of justice to bullies. Her shoes are too big, her clothes are a mess, she can lift a horse over her head, and nobody knows what to do with her. What’s not to like?

Sweden.se freelance journalist Tiina Meri’s article “Pippi Longstocking: Swedish rebel and feminist role model” notes that Pippi was an early critic of beauty culture. This was very much a new concept for me in my Seventies childhood, though beauty culture was slightly different back then compared to now. (I have an album full of photos of me in plaid trousers, not “Lil’ pornstar” T-shirts.) It laid the seed for my future rejection of a constellation of femininity dictates, just as Pippi’s strength started me on the path to realising that developing bulging, strong muscles from sports training was a source of power for me, not feminine shame.

Meri offers this snippet of outspoken self-acceptance from Pippi:

“There is a sign in a shop window in the small town where she lives that reads, ‘DO YOU SUFFER FROM FRECKLES?’ Pippi doesn’t. She isn’t interested in the anti-freckle cream on offer but nevertheless goes into the shop to makes her position clear.

“No, I don’t suffer from freckles,” she declares.

“But my dear child,” says the startled assistant, “your whole face is covered in them.”

“I know,” says Pippi, “but I don’t suffer from them. I like them. Good morning!”

Who’s your favourite hoyden from history or fiction?

Filed under: Friday Hoyden