I recall the pre-flight press conference for Sally Ride in 1983
and how one reporter asked her if she would go crying to a
male astronaut if she ran into any problems during the mission.

This was in 1983, not 1953.

Ride asked back to the room in general why didn't one of her
male colleagues get asked this question.

Of course now we are at a point where no one knows any of
the astronauts or if a mission is happening, unless they happen
to go crazy and try to hunt down their ex-lover's girlfriend.

I would probably be more impressed with Tereshkova if her
flight wasn't such pure propaganda. And how true are the
rumors that she was chosen more for her "purer" Communist
ideology over her actual flight skills?

Whatever the case, no other woman flew for the next two
decades. And then we have the very recent comment from a
Russian official about how women on a ship is "bad luck".

Yup, still trying to move upward.