Today in Feminist History

A note about this series: In just the few months that I’ve been doing this series, I’ve encountered how difficult it can be to find important feminist historical moments, particularly organized by date. Especially when I’m doing most of my research online. So much of recorded history (particularly available on sites like Wikipedia, NY Times on this day) is about white men. Then the things I do find are often mostly about white women. If anyone has any online resources to share for feminist history (particularly about communities of color) let me know in comments!

Today in 1958, Natalie Angier was born. Natalie is a journalist, primarily writing about science. I’m including her in this series because of her 1999 book: Woman: An Intimate Geography.
About the book:

Angier takes readers on a mesmerizing tour of female anatomy and physiology that explores everything from organs to orgasm, and delves into topics such as exercise, menopause, and the mysterious properties of breast milk.
A self-proclaimed “scientific fantasia of womanhood.” Woman ultimately challenges widely accepted Darwinian-based gender stereotypes. Angier shows how cultural biases have influenced research in evolutionary psychology (the study of the biological bases of behavior) and consequently lead to dubious conclusions about “female nature.” such as the idea that women are innately monogamous while men are natural philanderers.

She was one of the first to popularize the biological fact that the clitoris has 8,000 nerve endings, twice as many as the penis.
I have to admit I haven’t read the book myself (and I’m sure I would probably have some criticisms about biological essentialism) but it’s clear that Angier’s book has had an impact on our understanding of gender.
You can read more about Natalie at her website, and more about the book in this Salon.com review.