Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Today On The Signorile Show

3:35pm ET - In 1963 cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova of the Soviet Union became the first woman to launch into space and it wasn’t until 20 years later in 1983 that Sally Ride become America’s first female astronaut.  With medical studies in the 1950s and ’60s suggesting that female bodies had stronger hearts and could better withstand vibrations and radiation exposure; and psychological studies suggesting that women coped better than men in isolation and when deprived of sensory inputs, it begs the question of why more women have not been sent into space.  Joining us today to discuss the benefits of sending women above the stratosphere instead of men is Kate Greene, whose recent article in Slate details her experience in a 4 month long NASA funded experiment that studied the types of food Mars explorers might eat.  You can also follow Kate on twitter.


4:35pm ET - Birth control was not always as simple as taking a small round pill every day. The science and politics behind inhibiting pregnancy are complicated and date back further than most people realize. In The Birth Of The Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched A Revolution, Jonathan Eig explores how contraception was conceived, detailing the bizarre forms of birth control people used in ancient times, the struggle to fund research for progesterone treatment, the fight for women’s reproductive rights, and the evolution of sex as a form of recreation instead of a marital duty. He joins us today to discuss his book and the utmost importance of making birth control widely available.  You can also follow Jonathan on twitter.


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