• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of Scholarly CommonsCommunitiesTitleAuthorsIssue DateSubmit DateSubjectsThis CollectionTitleAuthorsIssue DateSubmit DateSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    About

    AboutCreative CommonsAugusta University LibrariesUSG Copyright Policy

    Statistics

    Display statistics

    Cassandra Radical Feminist Nurses Network: Feminism, Nursing, and a History for the Present

    • CSV
    • RefMan
    • EndNote
    • BibTex
    • RefWorks
    Thumbnail
    Name:
    DillardWright_gru_1907E_10194.pdf
    Embargo:
    2025-12-31
    Size:
    1.628Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    Download
    Authors
    Dillard-Wright, Jessica Susan
    Issue Date
    2020-12
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10675.2/623716
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    As the last light of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) faded in 1982, a group of radical feminist nurses coalesced around their shared outrage at nursing’s disciplinary failure to engage deeply with feminist causes. The 1982 American Nurses Convention coincided with this last gasp of the ERA, held in a hotel in Washington, D.C. where thousands of nurses, overwhelmingly women, converged for professional development and camaraderie. And although the city outside the hotel roiled in protest, the Convention unfurled with nary a mention of the constitutional amendment that would secure legal equality irrespective of gender. Incensed by this omission, and with nursing’s general resistance to political engagement, these radical nurses descended on the hotel bar and began organizing what would become Cassandra Radical Feminist Nurses Network. Cassandra Radical Feminist Nurses Network (“CASSANDRA” hereafter, in the convention established by the organization in their Newsjournal) was an activist network active from 1982 until 1991. This study used historical research methods to document CASSANDRA’s legacy while unpacking the complex interrelationship between nursing and feminism. This includes examining the influences of race, gender, and sexuality, influences that shapes normative understandings of nursing from its Victorian origins to the present. CASSANDRA was unusual in its overt affiliation as a nurses’ organization with a radical feminist allegiance during an era when feminism and nursing were frequently at odds. As a decentralized, radical feminist “web,” the aim of CASSANDRA was to “create and develop a group that would truly provide an open forum for feminist nurses from all walks of life and how to avoid the usual male-oriented hierarchy and rigidity of most national organizations” (LaGodna, 1982, p. 1). In unfurling the nuances of gender and sexuality that CASSANDRA navigated, it is clear that the work of CASSANDRA envisioned a radical space for collective resistance and connection, reflecting the normative expectations in nursing that stemmed from nursing’s Victorian imaginary. Even while CASSANDRA’s work around gender and sexuality was bold and transgressive, their engagement with race was poorly articulated. Because of this, the organization’s work reinforced white normativity. Ultimately, like mythological Cassandra, CASSNADRA would eventually quiet to a whisper. What understanding the thrums of CASSANDRA, of nursing’s rich and complex history can do is provide a clear view of nursing’s disciplinary history. This is a fundamental prerequisite for a more just, equitable nursing future.
    Affiliation
    Nursing
    Description
    Record is embargoed until 12/31/2025
    Collections
    Department of Physiological & Technological Nursing Theses and Dissertations
    Theses and Dissertations

    entitlement

     
    DSpace software (copyright © 2002 - 2023)  DuraSpace
    Quick Guide | Contact Us
    Open Repository is a service operated by 
    Atmire NV
     

    Export search results

    The export option will allow you to export the current search results of the entered query to a file. Different formats are available for download. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format.

    By default, clicking on the export buttons will result in a download of the allowed maximum amount of items.

    To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

    After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.