Emilie du Chatelet

She was a French mathematician, physicist, and author in the 1700's. She broke some rules. She got busy with famous brains of the time (including Voltaire, y'all). Thanks for the tip, Katie!

Childhood. Emilie was awkward and showed no signs of growing up to be beautiful, so she was given lessons in fencing, riding, and gymnastics to improve her coordination [FN1]. She was remarkably well educated for the time: she learned a lot of math, science, and literature; she danced, played harpsichord, sang opera, and acted; she was fluent in Latin, Italian, Greek, and German (she later translated Greek and Latin plays and philosophy into French). She was also a high-stakes gambler, and although she used her mathematical skills to lay out strategy, she once lost the equivalent of $1million at the table at Fontainebleau, assumedly to card cheats.

Work. In 1737 she published her research into the science of fire, which predicted what is today known as infra-red radiation and the nature of light. In 1740 she published a book with new ideas on science and philosophy that sought to reconcile complex ideas from the leading thinkers of the time. In the book she combined theories to show that the energy of a moving object is proportional to its mass and the square of its velocity (E ~ mv²), and not directly proportional, as had previously been believed by Newton, Voltaire, and others. The correct formula was later shown to be Ek = (1/2) mv². In 1749 she completed her outstanding achievement by translating into French -- ith her own commentary-- Newton's Principia Mathematica, including her derivation from its principles of mechanics the notion of conservation of energy.

Education. Emilie was excluded from the University education that was open to male students. Additionally, she was asked to leave the cafes where intellectuals met and talked because of the "men only" custom of the time. She had a suit of men's clothing made and reappeared in that.

Marriage. In 1725 (at 19) she married a Marquis. After bearing three children, she considered her marital responsibilities fulfilled and arranged with her husband to live separate lives while still maintaining one household. In the upper classes of France at the time, it was acceptable for both the husband and wife to take lovers.

Liason: Duc de Richelieu. In 1730, she started a 1.5 year affair with the Duc de Richelieu. The Duc was interested in literature and philosophy, Emilie was one of the few women who could converse at his level. She read every book of consequence, attended the theater regularly, and enjoyed intellectual debate. She expressed an interest in the works of Issac Newton and he encouraged her to take lessons in higher mathematics to better understand his theories.

Liason: Voltaire. From 1733-1748, she had a relationship with Voltaire. The Duc de Richelieu and Voltaire were close personal friends. Emilie wrote to him saying, "Why did you never tell me that M. de Voltaire is the paragon of Men?" Emilie invited Voltaire to live in her country house in northeastern France, and she became his long-time companion under the eyes of her tolerant husband. There she studied physics and mathematics and published scientific articles and translations. The couple collected a library of 21,000 books, which was the equivalent of a university library at the time. They spoke in English when they argued.

Both Voltaire and Emilie had a desire to discover Truth and to write about their findings. They both wanted to make an impact on the world. Their bond was based on their work and how they supported one another. Judging from Voltaire's letters to friends and their commentaries on each other's work, they lived together with great mutual liking and respect. Voltaire once declared that Emilie was "a great man whose only fault was being a woman."

Liason: Jean Francois de Saint-Lambert. From 1748 until her death, she had an affair with the seductive (young) poet Jean Francois de Saint-Lambert. She became pregnant in her early 40's. In a letter to a friend she confided her fears that, because of her age, she would not survive the pregnancy. Emilie bore the child, but died three days later at the age of 42.

When she died, Voltaire wrote "It is not a mistress I have lost but half of myself, a soul for which my soul seems to have been made."

[FN1] You know the old saying "If a man cannot have beauty, he chooses coordination"? Neither do I. It makes no sense.

Rad Bitches

I write the "rad bitches" profiles because I'm fascinated by old timey rebellious or progressive women. I'm thirsty for untraditional role models. I like knowing my life can be a deliriously interesting rush of foreign travels, books, and love affairs if I never hit the marriage-mortgage-kids trifecta.

Book tips appreciated! Specifically biographies or anthologies of such women.

Diane Keaton

I've been meaning to post about her for a while, and how she's awesome, and then yesterday on Good Morning America she did this:



Oh Diane! Let's list some reasons why I love you.

Annie Hall - I love the dialogue and the wardrobe, and apparently many of your mannerisms and self-deprecating sense of humor were added into the role.

Woody Allen - Nice work, I understand the appeal my friend. I understand the appeal. And I like that you're still friends.

Clown Paintings - You collect them, and then you published an anthology of clown paintings, which I gave to my brother for Christmas a few years ago. I should give it to more people.

Father of the Bride I and II - You were married to Steve Martin, on whom I have a crush that is either wanting him to be my father or my husband, I cannot quite tell.

The First Wives Club - I'm a sucker for kooky exhuberant devil-may-care women (of a certain age).

Warren Beatty - He's beautiful. I enjoy his marriage to Annette Bening and adoration for his sister Shirley MacLaine. The man seems to love cool women.

Katharine Hepburn - I've read you admire Katharine Hepburn, whom I also admire. I like this comparison from the San Francisco Examiner: "No longer relying on that stuttering uncertainty that seeped into all her characterizations of the 1970s, she has somehow become Katharine Hepburn with a deep maternal instinct, that is, she is a fine and intelligent actress who doesn't need to be tough and edgy in order to prove her feminism."

Somethings' Gotta Give - You look good for your age, lady, and I like the age appropriate pairing with Jack Nicholson.

Style - I also enjoy smart tailoring and menswear. The San Francisco Chronicle described you as "easy to find. Look for the only woman in sight dressed in a turtleneck. On a 90-degree afternoon in Pasadena."

Elephant - You executive produced it?!? Just learned that, thanks Wikipedia.

Al Pacino - This is also news to me, but I love that you said "Al was simply the most entertaining man... To me, that's, that is the most beautiful face. I think Warren was gorgeous, very pretty, but Al's face is like whoah. Killer, killer face." Yes. Let's get a drink and discuss Javier Bardem and Clive Owen.

Blogging - You sometimes blog for The Huffington Post. Rad. Let's blog while we drink and talk about men.

Michelle Obama

I've been meaning to blog about Michelle Obama for a while. Jezebel ran an interesting article today that was just the inspiration I needed.

The author mentions seeing Michelle stand next to Barack and Oprah and feeling that her presence as an "unplasticized, uncontoured, undeniably black wife" is revolutionary to women of color who--like herself--are bombarded by Caucasian ideals of beauty. She praises the way Michelle bucks the trend of successful black man having lighter skinned wives as trophies.


Damn right Michelle is no trophy. See that picture above? I love it. I don't know how great it must feel to have a woman that looks like you about to be half a groundbreaking presidential couple. But as a woman I respond strongly to her fierce confidence and wit and intellect and power. Here are some things that make me love her:

She is his equal. She sometimes gripes about the fact that Barack "leaves out the butter" and is "just a man." Oh, Barack's a man alright. My ovaries have noticed. But I understand she still expects him to make their family a priority and participate in the household. That she never plays the deferential wife makes them both awesome.

She is smart. She went to Harvard Law School and until recently, served as Vice President of Community and Medical Affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center. South Side activists praise her program for moving low-income patients from the emergency room into primary care elsewhere.

She is sassy. She may or may not have joked to Salon that Barack gets "morning wood."

She's a cool mom. She once took her daughters on a scary amusement park ride and now they don't trust her judgment. She's also been quoted saying her daughters jump into bed with her some morning and they talk about stuff like, you know, menstuation and what kind of dog the family should get.

She is funny. The Salon article says: "Talk turns to the quality of the Hardee's. This is a Mc-Donald's loyal group, but everyone is impressed. They like the curly fries; they like the table service; they like the Hawaiian chicken sandwich. Michelle surveys the table and hoists her eyebrows to dry perfection, appraising her charges-slash-baby sitters with unhidden amusement, and says 'In summary, I think we can safety say that we are all very pleased with our Hardee's experience.'"

She is hot. Look at the picture! She can rock a coral halter dress and still look badass. She seems to have sensuality and humor to spare and I bet she can crush asshole conservatives with one wry arch of that eyebrow.

Victoria Woodhull

This is the third part in a series I'm calling "Rad Bitches." First came Lucy Stone. Then Hillary (Rodham, Rodham-Clinton) Clinton. Now: Victoria Woodhull. Who the hull is that, you ask? A champion of free love and women's rights, as well as the first female Wall Street broker and Presidential nominee. She was also a looker!

At 15 she married a 28-year-old doctor. She quickly realized he was an alcoholic and a womanizer and she'd need to support him and their 2 kids. This pissed her off for several reasons: (i) at that time women had few options to escape shitty marriages; (ii) divorced ladies were stigmatized and often ostracized and maybe Jazzercized; and (iii) men were allowed to have sex of the pre- and extra-marital varieties.

She and her sister were the first female Wall Street brokers. Their firm opened in 1870 with the assistance of her admirer and wealthy benefactor. Many contemporary men's journals published sexualized images of the pair running their firm, thereby linking the concept of publicly-minded, un-chaperoned women with ideas of "sexuality immorality" and prostitution.

She and her sister also established a paper with opinions on taboo topics. Among other things, the paper advocated women's suffrage, short skirts, spiritualism, free love, vegetarianism, licensed prostitution, and birth control. The paper also included the first English version of the Communist Manifesto.

In 1871, she argued to the House Judiciary Committee that women already had the right to vote - all they had to do was use it - since the 14th and 15th Amendments granted that right to all citizens. (Reminder: Women didn't get the vote until 1920. NINETEEN TWENTY.)

In 1872, she received the Presidential nomination from the Equal Rights Party and Frederick Douglass received the Vice Presidential nomination. While he didn't accept his nomination, her association with him stirred controversy about the mixing of whites n' blacks. The Equal Rights Party hoped the combination would reunite suffragists with civil rights activists, because the exclusion of female suffrage from the 15th Amendment two years earlier apparently had suffragist panties in a bunch.

Two days before the 1872 election, Victoria's paper published an article about a rumored affair between a prominent Protestant Reverend and some woman. The article intended to highlight the sexual double-standard between women and men. It resuled in her arrest that very day for sending obscene materials through the mail. The arrest was arranged by Anthony Comstock, the self-appointed moral defender of the nation at the time, and incited questions about censorship and government persecution. She was acquitted on a technicality six months later, but the arrest prevented Victoria from attempting to vote during the election.

Woot!

I read two pieces of news today that kinda made me fall in love with Hillary Clinton.

(1) Senatorial Cleavage. I read she'd flaunted some cleavage on the Senate floor last week. The pictures aren't sexual at all, but they do show her rocking a hot pink jacket with a black camisole and - yes - a bit of cleavage. My initial response was "Wow she's wearing that and still looks badass and professional. Should I consider pink at work?" It made her look human and warm and like a regular woman. You go Hill.

(2) Youthful Overanalysis. Some old high school friend of Hillary's recently provided the New York Times with letters from their early-college pen pal days. She seems so bright and zesty in these letters. She also has a wry observational tone that makes me want to go get drunk and talk about Life and Changing The World with young H.Dawg. Some snippets include:

“Sunday was lethargic from the beginning as I wallowed in a morass of general and specific dislike and pity for most people but me especially."

“Can you be a misanthrope and still love or enjoy some individuals? How about a compassionate misanthrope?”

“Are you satisfied with the part you have cast yourself in? It seems that you have decided to become a reactor rather than actor — everything around will determine your life.”

“God, I feel so divorced from Park Ridge, parents, home, the entire unreality of middle class America. This all sounds so predictable, but it’s true.”

“I’d play out in the patch of sunlight that broke the density of the elms in front of our house and pretend there were heavenly movie cameras watching my every move. I yearn for all the excitement and discoveries of life without losing the little girl in the sunlight. You’ll probably think I’m retreating from the world back to the sunlight in an attempt to dream my child’s movie."

Stoners

I learned recently that women who use their birth names after marriage are sometimes called "Lucy Stoners." The phrase originated with Lucy Stone, the first recorded American woman to keep her name upon marriage. She's got a cool story...

Born in 1818, she watched her father rule the family by "divine right." She was determined to learn Hebrew and Latin so that she could correct the mistranslation she was confident lay behind such words. Later on, she would challenge churches with restrictions on women voting, speaking, etc.

Disturbed when her mother had to beg her father for money, she wanted an education. Although she learned faster than her brother, he was educated and she was not. To pay for college, she had to work 9 years earning low female wages teaching and housecleaning. To attend college, she had one choice - Oberlin was the only school that admitted women. She was the first woman to graduate college in Massachusetts.

In college men had to hold debates as part of the curriculum, and women had to attend to provide the audience. She was asked to write a commencement speech but declined because somebody else would have to read it (women were not allowed to give a public address). Shortly after graduation she gave her first of many public speeches. She became a frequent speaker and writer on women's suffage, women's rights, and the abolition of slavery.

Free in her thinking, she thought she'd stay free and single in life as well. She met a dude named Henry Blackwell, however, who was also anti-slavery and pro-women's rights and whose sister became the first female physician in the US. Their marriage ceremony renounced the marriage laws at the time and announced she would keep her name and keep her property in her name.

Shortly thereafter, she refuxed to pay property taxes. She protested the "taxation without representation" endured by women because they could not vote.

She and Henry actively supported the 14th Amendment giving the vote to black men. She supported this despite the fact that it would be the first time the Constitution mentioned "male citizens" specifically. Other women suffragists (including Susan B. Anthony of $1 coin fame) split with her on this matter and opposed the 14th Amendment.

She was progressive even in death: She was the first person in New England to be cremated.