How do you feel about articles celebrating the first woman to do something?

I am more in agreement with the person who commented.

I think it’s a positive thing. Just like the “first African American to…” is a good thing. Scootch over white males. We are in the house!

My understanding is that females,in general, are better pilots than males.

I think acknowledging such things, is counterproductive though. It seems to point out that the achievement, is a rare thing. I think it takes away something, from the achievement…
I love that it happened. I would rather it be viewed as common, then a accomplishment…

Just my opinion…

Women, have been to space. They’ve done all kinds of things.

“Someone in the comments said these article irritate him as women have been flying for centuries, so it’s nothing new.” That was a really ignorant thing to say. Flight has barely been around for 100 years.

@Dutchess_lll Yes, that is ignorant.
I just didn’t want to copy and paste his comment so I paraphrased @everybody else who notices that

It’s mostly a good thing, except when it’s trivial. I don’t care who the first woman to eat 50 hotdogs in a half hour is, nor would I care about the first man to do it.

50 hot dogs! What about 50 boiled eggs?

Any achievement by a woman which counters outmoded and repressive stereotypes should be lauded and played up for all it’s worth.

I suppose the good thing about celebrating women pilots is that the new broom sweeps clean leaving a trail for others to follow down the centuries.

Agree with @stanleybmanly here. Its not just about the achievement. Its for little girls and teens and those who are still raised to believe being a wife and mother with a mediocre job is the best they can hope to achieve.
Read @sergeants Question about marriage and children, she’s a 19 year old American already questioning the social pressure.
And I assure you corporate America is still very much an old boys club in the US more often than upud think. Men get the big salaries and top positions while qualified women are passed. Its not equal so until it is, keep the pressure on.

The movie Hidden Figures brings to light the real heroes behind man landing on the moon. It was the black mathematician women (2 from my home state) that worked out how to make the spaceship safe for exit and re-entry to earth. They were treated like 3rd class citizens, having to go to the Negro bathroom a half mile from their office, ate at their desks because they weren’t allowed in the white cafeteria. John Glenn didn’t want to get on a spaceship that these women had not worked on.
Stories like these need to come out and the people behind the scenes need to be acknowledged for their contributions.

I think it’s great that @lucillelucillelucille was the first woman to answer this question!

Sad and disappointing. What it means is that women have not yet reached equality and parity with men, which they should have long ago.

Celebrating “first women to…” means that they are still in catch-up mode, and in 2020, that is a sad statement to make.

@rebbel Loll! Exactly

But @rebbel ‘s comment – although said in jest, just shows the problem. It shouldn’t matter that @lucillelucillelucille answered first (or me or anyone else). In the modern world, gender simply shouldn’t play a role.

@elbanditoroso – You’ve hit the nail on the head. :)

I agree with both grimmy and the bandit.
While I am glad for their accomplishments, I think pointing out that someone is the first woman, African American, etc. is like giving every kid in the contest a ribbon for participating, in that waving that in people’s faces actually diminishes the actual accomplishments.
Just announce that so and so did this, and let people say, “wow, a woman did this, good for her!”

We shouldn’t have to point these things out. But when you’re talking about a field that is traditionally male-dominated, it’s a good opportunity to both celebrate and highlight these achievements.

I tend to like stories and movies that show how people succeed against odds. Men, women or children…we all face adversity. It is a tribute to our tenacity and courage when we succeed. To try making a story about a woman succeeding somehow more pertinent than a man is ignorant and vice versa.

A story about a woman succeeding in a male-dominated field is a story about how people succeed against the odds.

Also, a story about a woman succeeding isn’t about making a man’s success less pertinent.

When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.

My only concern is if a female gets shot down over enemy territory. I feel like, on average, a man could take a heavier beating, and overall stand a better chance of survival.

Think Black Hawk Down. Based on a true story. The locals beat the crap out the pilot. I remember seeing the real life pictures, when I was younger. A female might not survive such a beating…

We do, more often than you might be willing to accept.

I’ve known some bassass women. No doubt.

Mr. Grimm,
I have a lot of respect for you but that was slightly ignorant to say.

I apologize. But I’ve seen some women get beat to pieces. Highly trained women. Rhonda Rousy, was my girl. She got her ass kicked, by another woman. Not a mob, of angry men…

Like I said, I’ve read that women are better pilots. I just trying to think of any reasons, why there aren’t more… That’s all I could come up with…

Well, there aren’t more because there probably isn’t enough interest amongst women to become military pilots.

@Sargeant That’s actually why I went to Air Force recruiting. They completely blew me off as unworthy. My bio dad flew in Vietnam and had biplanes, so I really wanted it.

@KNOWITALL I want to as well. I can’t because of my glasses. But I am still going to work towards my pilots license.
yeah, there are still some assholes out there that try to tell you that you can’t because you are a woman. But that isn’t the exclusive reason why women don’t do things. There are mainly guys in my Criminal Justice classes. Same for when I was still doing Cyber Security (I dropped that now). In my gen ed classes, the other girls were taking nursing, interior design, stuff like that. Very few of us were going for a male-dominated career and I feel like that was an interest-based choice and not a “well I’m a women so I have to” choice, if that makes sense. They weren’t doing STEM or CJ because they didn’t want to.
I’ve always been a person to just do what I want, regardless of what others think. I still get told by some family members that Criminal Justice wouldn’t be good because “Women shouldn’t be cops” and I don’t even want to be a police officer. I just listen and move on. It isn’t their life. Other women get criticized worse. It’s ridiculous but sometimes you have to just take it and prove them wrong. That may be the most effective way to end the criticism, is to prove them wrong.

I once talked to a female cop who said “you gotta search a lot of vaginas. That’s a big part of the job.”
SQ. What if you got lasix surgery? I’m not an airforce guy, so I don’t know…

I’ve heard so many conflicting stories on Lasik that I don’t even know who to ask. I’ve had people in the AF say yes you can and others say no they don’t like it or what you to have it.

@ the police thing: yeah they probably do lol that would suck! I actually want to be a victim/witness advocate

@SergeantQueen I truly wish you the best. Surely thing have changed in the last 25 years since I tried.

@SergeantQueen my daughter went to college and got a Criminal Justice degree, then went to the Police academy, and was a patrol officer for 8–9 years. It can be done.

@SergeantQueen -I know two female pilots. Both are in their mid fifties.
A third pilot was once a guest on our boat. She was in her thirties and ex military.
They might have run into discrimination because of their sex but no one ever brought it up as a huge problem regarding their goals to become pilots.
They had an interest and pursued it.

@elbanditoroso @lucillelucillelucille yes. My points exactly. You can and probably will face criticism in anything you do. If it is negative, I try and take it as a challenge. I don’t believe people are trying to hold women back as much in 2020 as they were in the 50s, but it still happens and you can’t let it get to you!

@SergeantQueen -You’re right! and you have a good attitude

Well. Piloting civilian aircraft, is different from piloting a fighter.
They have to withstand high g-force maneuvers. They even have special suits, to keep the blood from pooling in the legs, during a high G maneuver. Otherwise, the blood will be pulled from the brain, and cause the pilot to black out…
So. The suit, will put pressure on the legs, to keep the blood from being able to pool in the legs. And there are special breathing techniques.
It’s not easy to be a fighter pilot.
I couldn’t do it…

There must be something that happens to your eyes, during high G maneuvers, that affects the eyes. Something glasses, or contact lenses, can’t compensate for…

You can certainly be infantry, with glasses. But. Inertia, and other physics, play a role in piloting a fighter. And apparently physiology…..

SQ. I would go to an Air Force recruiting station, and ask about pilots that have had lasix… Don’t take “I don’t know, ” as an answer. If the recruiter, won’t help, ask to speak to someone higher up to speak with. If that person won’t help, ask for someone who can…
Don’t give up…
I know that I believe in you…
And you should know, by now, I don’t sugar coat things, and I wouldn’t push you to do something I don’t believe you can handle…
If it’s possible, and you can get through the training, which is hard, I think you are more than capable of doing it…

@MrGrimm888 I know there is a difference. I love flying either way. I plan on looking into the Air Force more seriously once I graduate. I want to try to do what I’m in school for first.

In Charleston, we have a major C-17,and cargo fights, coming in and out. Lots of helicopter activities too. There’s an air force base, close by. There are surely dozens of similar bases, around.
We used to live in Germany, and caught free flights, to and from Europe. We had to wear ear protection, as a 4 engine prop plane, was quite noisy… But. They were free flights, no doubt from my father’s past. I flew on about half a dozen military planes. Stuff has to get from one place to another. We hitched rides, normally.
If I could be a passenger, it must not have been too difficult.

Get your hours in, as a pilot, and you could eventually fly civilian aircraft. A lucrative job…

Like I said, talk to a recruiter…

You can do it :)