“Sally's father saw a positive effect to the interrogations. "Sally's answers have been waking a few people up," Dale Ride said. "I think what she's doing, as much as anything, is using these questions to help destroy the stereotypes that men respond one way to a situation and women respond in another." The man who helped raise his daughter without gender limitations had clearly done his job. "It points out the stupidity of believing in the inadequacy of women in handling traditionally male roles," he said.
Sally herself later wrote that the attention made her "aware of what our culture would expect of a woman's reactions and capabilities," aware of the scrutiny "to see if I would crumble or falter. I felt it was important to react with composure and strength." She said she understood how Billie Jean King had felt nearly a decade earlier, when the hopes of so many women rested on her victory over Bobby Riggs. "As a woman, as well as a tennis player, I would have been terribly disappointed if Billie Jean had lost that day, but she didn't. Now I was faced with a similar situation. I didn't want to let other women down."
Launch was set for June 18, 1983 - two months later than originally planned, which, in Sally's ever positive outlook, gave her two more months to train. Johnny Carson joked on The Tonight Show that the shuttle would be delayed so that Sally could find a purse to match her shoes. America's favorite late-night host would work Sally into his monologue half a dozen more times, but the other frat house gags about her deodorant, her pantyhose and-yup-her brassiere, met mostly with boos or embarrassed silence from the studio audience. In just over a year, NASA's selection and Sally's conduct had transformed female astronauts from a punch line to a matter of national pride.”
Sally Ride - America’s First Woman In Space by Lynn Sherr Pg 150 - 151
Invitation: “…waking a few people up.”
More about Sally Ride and Sally Ride Science - Promoting Science for Women and Others.
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"In just over a year, NASA's selection and Sally's conduct had transformed female astronauts from a punch line to a matter of national pride," Lynn Sherr.
The first American woman in space, Sally Ride, and her family advanced equality for women in a remarkable way. When Sally retired from NASA and created Sally Ride Science to encourage young girls in STEM, she worked to engage and inspire the next generation as well.