by Artemis
Dr. Gladys West. Photo by Adrian Cadiz, public domain.
On Jan. 17, U.S. mathematician Gladys Brown West (nee Gladys Mae Brown) died at age 95. In 1956 she became the second Black woman hired at the Naval Proving Ground, now called the Naval Support Facility, in Dahlgren, Virginia. She worked as a computer programmer and project manager for processing systems for satellite data analysis. In the 1960s, she participated in an award-winning study of Pluto’s motion relative to Neptune. In the 1970s-1980s she programmed an IBM 7030 Stretch computer for increasingly precise calculations of the shape of the Earth, accounting for forces distorting its shape. Her research made possible the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS) used for navigation by military and civilians. She received the Webby Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the U.S. Air Force Hall of Fame. The BBC named her one of their “100 Women of 2018,” and the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering awarded her their highest individual honor, the Prince Philip Medal.
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Why “no means no” is insufficient
In January, in London, England, Philip Young, age 49, pleaded guilty to 56 sexual offenses against Joanne Young, age 48, his wife at the time. These included drugging and raping her repeatedly between 2010 and 2023. Five other men, ages 31 to 61, pleaded not guilty to sexual offenses against her while she was unconscious. Philip Young, a former local Conservative Party politician, also pleaded guilty to publishing over 500 images and videos of Joanne Young “doing private acts for his own sexual gratification without her consent.” He denied three charges of making indecent images of children. The defendants will stand trial Oct. 5, 2026. Ms. Young waived her right to anonymity as French woman Gisele Pelicot did when she was a victim in a very similar 2024 case.
In November 2025, in Germany, 61-year-old school janitor “Fernando P.” was found guilty of repeatedly drugging and raping his wife. He filmed 34 of these crimes, sharing them online between 2018 and 2024. This is the first case of its kind heard by a court in Germany. In a previous similar case in 2024, the suspect passed away before being charged for 14 years of offenses. The organization Nur Ja Heisst Ja states that these cases show the need for the definition of rape to include a “yes means yes” standard. The current “no means no” places the burden on victims to verbally resist. They support Justice Minister Kathrin Mahlmann in her campaign to criminalize the possession of rape content, currently legal in Germany.
In France, lawmaker Sandrine Josso says, “I think today’s laws are not sufficiently grounded in reality. Social media has enabled it (sexual abuse) because communities form and share tips—essentially refining and professionalizing their methods. That’s what makes it so alarming.” She says websites and chatrooms function as an “online university of violence” for these rapists.
It is more than 50 years since the Women’s Liberation Movement embodied the ubiquitous struggles of women for rights and freedoms, but we are still learning of amazing women, especially Black women, who were part of those struggles. Right-wing ideology of women tries to roll back their achievements, the movement (wrongly perceived as white and middle-class) will do well to ground itself in its origins: Black and white women activists in the Civil Rights Movement gained a new vision from the power and freedoms they had fought for and now saw as necessary for women’s full human development
Absolutely, all of this is very well put and important to remember! And, yes, it’s important to counter the right wing which is once again attempting to erase history and set us back in so many ways.