Going to the store for a quart of milk may be a terrifying experience for some women. For those plagued by agoraphobia the simple act of opening the door and moving outside the confines of their home can mean intense anxiety.
Agoraphobia is a powerful, unrealistic fear of ordinary places or experiences. A woman with the disorder may find herself on a city street, inside a church or a supermarket when she is suddenly struck by an
overpowering sense of being trapped in a threatening situation where help or escape is impossible.
The disorder strikes both men and women, but there are at least two reasons women seeking treatment appear to outnumber men, according to psychotherapist Genie Lenihan of Eastern Illinois University`s counseling center.
First, more women seek psychotherapy than men. ”Right now the split nationally is about 60-40,” says Lenihan.
Second, agoraphobia has its roots in early childhood experiences of panic: ”It`s the little girl`s response to pull the covers over her head, to pull her feelings inward; the little boy`s response is to become aggressive and angry.”
For help send a stamped, addressed envelope to the National Agoraphobia Network, Box 1708, Twentynine Palms, Calif. 92277. The network newsletter is part of the $5 a year membership. SOURCE: By Susan Kaufman.
N.Y. BIKE DESIGNER IS RIDING HIGH
Since bicycles were invented, riding for women has been a pain in the seat–not to mention the arms, shoulders, back and legs.
The simple explanation: Bicycles have been designed to fit a man`s proportions. For the same overall height, women have longer legs, a shorter torso, shorter arms, narrower shoulders, a wider pelvis and smaller hands and feet. Even so-called ”girls` bikes,” with a v-shaped bar connecting the handlebars and seat, still were based on the proportions of men`s bikes.
”If a woman finds a bike she can comfortably straddle, she probably can`t sit on the saddle and reach the handlebars,” says Georgena Terry.
Terry, a former Xerox product engineer, found an obvious but untried solution: She designed a bicycle to fit women. The tube between the seat and handlebars is shorter, the front wheel smaller, the seats wider, the toe clips smaller, the handlebars shorter. The frames begin at 17 inches, compared to the standard 19 inches, to accommodate women from 4 feet 10 inches to 5 feet 11.
In 1981 Terry, 36, an MBA and bicycling enthusiast since 1975, decided to put her engineering expertise to work by designing custom frames. Women customers complained that they couldn`t find frames off the rack that fit. Terry modified her design to satisfy them, sold six bikes at a rally, and her business took off. She quit her job at Xerox (she had also worked as a stockbroker and an assistant to nuclear engineers) and now manufactures Terry Precision Bicycles for Women full-time from a factory in East Rochester, N.Y. ”I don`t think it was a case of manufacturers` saying, `We`re just going to build bikes for men,` ” says Terry, who at 5 feet 2 inches and 98 pounds is just the sort of woman who needs her bikes. ”No one had really looked carefully at the situation and realized that there was a fundamental difference (between the fit for men and women) and said, `We should build it.` ”
”The strongest reaction from women about my size is, `I can`t believe this. I can stand on the ground,` ” Terry relates. ”After a test ride, they say, `That was fantastic. I could reach the handlebars. I really felt in control of the bicycle.` ”
Bicycling magazine has praised Terry Bikes for their fit, craftsmanship and handling. Jerry Levinson, owner of Oak Park Cyclery, the only distributor of Terry bikes in the Chicago area, says, ”Every lady we`ve sold a bike to was thankful the bike came along, they`ve suffered so long.” He says, however, that the price tag limits the market (models range from $319 to $1,399). ”There are not that many ladies who will spend that kind of money for a bike,” he says. Nevertheless, statistics show that 70 percent of new bicycle riders are women.
Since Terry`s business started, a few other manufacturers have come out with models for women. But Terry says she remains ”the only manufacturer making a serious commitment to women, be they short, tall or in-between.” For information: Terry Precision Bicycles for Women, 140 Despatch Drive, East Rochester, N.Y. 14445; 716-385-6398.
SOURCE: By Mary Elson.
HIGHER POSTS IN EDUCATION
Women are pursuing college degrees in ever-greater numbers, but they`re still relatively scarce in the ivy-covered administrative towers.
A mere 8 percent of coeducational colleges and universities are headed by women, the Women`s College Coalition reports. Of the 101 women`s colleges among the 3,000 institutions of higher learning in this country, 66 percent of the presidents are women. At community colleges the percentage is still low but increasing. Of 1,224 institutions surveyed by the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges, 109 had women presidents in 1986.
Beginning in 1976 the William H. Donner Foundation teamed with Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania to develop a summer program to prepare professional women in higher education for further administrative responsibilities.
Since then more than 800 faculty and administrators from the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Wales, Iran, Nigeria and the Netherlands have participated in the college`s four-week residential Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration.
The program includes training in budgeting, management, information systems, governance, planning and the structures of academic institutions. Those interested in attending the 1987 Summer Institute should write Margaret M. Healy, treasurer, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa. 19010. SOURCE: By Susan Kaufman.
REROUTING THE PLANET`S ENERGY
Historically society`s caretakers and conscience, women may be the best psychologically equipped of the species to lead our planet into the future instead of oblivion, says a 34-year-old Wheaton Franciscan nun.
What`s needed to pull the planet through its current hell-bent age of crisis is ”a feminine kind of energy,” characterized by contextual or global thinking rather than the traditional ”male energy” that thrives on aggression and linear thinking, says Sister Gabriele Uhlein, vice-president in charge of education for Wheaton Franciscan Services, Inc.
Luckily men and women harbor both kinds of energy, but with an obvious edge on experience, women now face the chance of a millenium to save the world, she says.
Uhlein, the author of scholarly works such as the recently published of
”Meditations with Hildegard of Bingham,” about a female Bavarian theologian, artist and prophet who lived 900 years ago, is a long-time community activist. She worked in social services as a lay professional before entering the novitiate in 1979. A native of West Germany who moved to the U.S. as a child, she graduated from Mundelein College and has a master`s degree from Indiana State University.
Uhlein is spreading the gospel of global thinking with a passion these days and is finding an eager audience, be it an evening adult education class or, as it was recently, a meeting of some AT&T employees. Her message:
Humankind was an evolutionary risk the Earth accepted some eons ago, and we`ve pocketed the dividends ever since, pushing the planet`s resources to the brink of bankruptcy. It may be women`s evolutionary destiny to lead the world toward a future of peace and prosperity, but it`ll take a more passionate commitment from both sexes to accomplish the task.
”We`re at a real prime time for change as a human species,” says Uhlein. ”If we look at our world–economically, politically, culturally
–we`re at real crisis points all over. We can`t afford to be leisurely anymore about what we do with our lives–and by that I mean figuring out why you do what you do and where do you want to spend your energies–what the heck in your life are you passionate about?”
The good fortune that allowed humans to evolve as intelligent creatures capable of thoughtful reflection risks being squandered in our rush for Saabs, suntans and military supremacy, Uhlein contends.
”The problem is how to become `planetary` people,” says Uhlein. The solution lies close to home, in everyday actions and values we embrace. ”The parallels between nature and our lives fit beautifully. Think of it this way: The Earth was born out of an incredible stellar explosion. I ask myself, `What am I doing to create that kind of burst of energy in my own life and in the lives of those around me?`
”Saint Francis talked about the incredible generosity of the Earth to us, and we need to think: `What have we given the Earth lately?` ” SOURCE: By Teresa Barker.
FAIR WINDS FOR `ALICE`
On the surface there`s little relation between a freakish meteorological event and the woman`s movement.
But the editors of a unique feminist review see it differently: Their logo for ”Hurricane Alice,” forceful winds moving in a counterclockwise direction with an eye of calm at the center, ”is how we see the feminist movement,” says Toni A.H. McNaron, a review editor and a professor of English and women`s studies at the University of Minnesota. ”It`s going against the grain as a way of change.”
The Minneapolis-based quarterly review is an eclectic assortment of personal essays, interviews and poetry, as well as critiques of books, plays and films. Each issue has a theme, such as (C)Women and Peace” and ”Mothers and Daughters.”
It is a labor of love for the unpaid 13-member staff, which includes professionals in education, medicine, law, finance and journalism.
Contributing writers include faithful readers who learn about upcoming topics issue by issue. Funded through subscriptions and donations, ”Hurricane Alice” has a modest but growing circulation reaching as far as England, Holland and France.
When the review was founded three years ago, it filled a publishing void, McNaron says. ”We wanted a forum for women`s words and ideas that would have a hard time fitting into other publications.” She says ”Alice” reviews a broader range of the arts and takes a more personal, less academic approach than other feminist journals.
The review`s current issue, for example, features women`s autobiographies, the second such issue following enthusiastic reader response. She attributes this to ”the need to prove the fact that `I exist.` There`s something powerful in that for women.” McNaron`s own contribution to the issue is an essay, ”My Personal Closet,” a poignant retrospective about discovering her sexual identity.
Reader response has been favorable, McNaron says. ”We almost never get a bad letter. People write to say they like the fact that we show the broad spectrum of women`s issues.”
Upcoming reviews include an examinavion of gender roles in children`s books and a discussion of women in the film industry.
To subscribe ($9 per year, $7 for senior citizens and students) write Hurricane Alice Foundation, 207 Lind Hall, 207 Church St., S.E., Minneapolis, Minn. 55455. SOURCE: By Darlene Gavron.
