Svetlana Savitskaya - Wikipedia
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TIL that Svetlana Savitskaya, the second woman in space, arrived at Mir (modular space station) in 1982, where she was greeted with an apron as a welcome present, and jokingly told to get to work in the kitchen by her fellow cosmonauts.

  • JovialMicrobial@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    Historical baggage. Women have been “othered” in male dominated spaces for a very longtime and their accomplishments systemically diminished.

    This woman trained very hard to get to be a cosmonaut, only to get there and be greeted with sexism. It’s very problematic and not a joke. She should’ve been greeted with enthusiasm and excitement for her and everyone elses accomplishment of being in space. Instead she got an apron.

    A good rule to follow for jokes in the workplace is its only funny if everyone’s laughing. Otherwise it’s just adult bullying.

    If the target of the joke isn’t laughing, but everyone else is…the joke teller just bullied someone.

    • AwesomeLowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      When Svetlana arrived the space station, she was reportedly handed an apron from her male crewmates and jokingly told to get to work in the kitchen. But she’s also described in fond terms the flowers she received upon arrival: “They gallantly presented me with flowers they had grown in orbit and those plain flowers in a transparent box were the dearest present to me. We hugged each other, kissed each other, in a word, our meeting was the usual meeting of friends who had not met for a long time.” After this initial meeting she was quickly able to establish a working, professional relationship with her crew.

      She was laughing, avoiding to herself