Avsnitt
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Perhaps some of the most recognizable American photos of the early 20th century. A young woman poses in front of a car with a cigar between her teeth and a gun on her hip. In another she points a rifle at the chest of a man who stares back at her without fear. Bonnie and Clyde made headlines in ways few couples have before or will again. There have been films, tv series, books, Broadway musicals, and even psychology terms based off of their story. But as is too often the case with media celebrities today, the real people behind the famous photos, hollywood films and power ballads are far more elusive. In addition, because of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker’s fame as a couple, it can be difficult to see or imagine the individuals involved in the 21 month crime spree. Bonnie herself has been called a criminal, attention seeker, murderer, romantic, and a modern Robin Hood. Today she is far more of an American legend than a real flesh and blood woman.
Special Guest: Jenni Walsh, author of novels Becoming Bonnie and Side by Side that provide a raw look into the life of Bonnie and Clyde told in the voice of the woman who experienced it all.
Poem by Bonnie Parker read by Sallie Bieterman
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It is a horror story stained with blood. A Hungarian noblewoman tortures and murders her female servants out of jealousy and sadistic need for violence. After the grisly deed, she bathes in the blood of her victims to gain eternal youth and beauty. Some claims put her kill count in the range of 600 young women to thousands, making her possibly the most prolific female serial killer in history. Lady Gaga has played her, Brahms Stoker used her as inspiration for Count Dracula, the Grimms Brothers based the Evil Queen in Snow White off of her, and countless books, movies, operas, and television shows have been dedicated to her sadistic ways. While this makes for an engaging and graphic horror story, the truth is far more elusive. In recent years, scholars and authors have begun to question the legitimacy of these legends surrounding Elizabeth Báthory, and attempt to find the real woman underneath.
Featured Guest: Discussing Elizabeth Bathory with me today will be novelist Rebecca Johns, author of the book The Countess.
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On an endlessly bright summer night in St. Petersburg in 1777, a glamorous three masted ship sailed into harbor. On board the yacht was a lone woman, responsible for scandalizing the British public and ready to make her name known at the court of Catherine the Great. This inconspicuous woman on the regal yacht had quickly become the anti-hero of a Georgian society desiring a headline other than the War of Independence an ocean away. As Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston (or so she called herself) sailed into St. Petersburg, she had every intention of making a name for herself as she had in England. In an age that saw the beginning of modern concepts such as celebrity and news cycles, the Duchess became the perfect personification. A duchess, art connoisseur, manipulator, and bigamist, Elizabeth refused to accept the role life had prescribed to her, and preferred infamy to anonymity.
Featured Guest: Historian Catherine Ostler, author of the book, The Duchess Countess: The Woman Who Scandalized Eighteenth-Century London.
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On today’s episode I will be chatting Maria the creator of Herstorical Walking Tours, a theatrical walking tour company that focuses on the stories of women in and around London, England through a feminist lens. Tours include "Hex and the City", "Harlots, Strumpets, and Tarts, Oh My!", and "Goal Birds of London". Continue listening to learn more about the tours and the process of bringing villainized women to captivating and nuanced light.
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In the remnants of a burned out farmhouse were the bodies of three children in the arms of a woman. What made this a more grisly scene was the fact that the woman had no head. Headlines praised the woman for selflessly comforting her children in the last agonizing moments of life. However, the following days would reveal a far darker and violent story. Spread amongst the farm were the dismembered bodies of around 14 men, lured to the farm with promises of marriage. The woman went from being a tragic mother to a murderer. Reporters called her the Indiana Ogre, Black Widow, Mistress of the Castle of Death, and Hell’s Belle. The real woman, Belle Gunness, quickly filled the public's imagination. How did such an unassuming woman manage to kill so many men? And was the woman inside the charred remains of the farmhouse really Belle Gunness? Or was she somewhere out there planning her next attack? In the immediate aftermath of Belle’s death (or disappearance), her life and the spaces she occupied became a thing of morbid fascination, entertainment, and fear. Eventually, Belle became just one in a list of female serial killers who continue to intrigue the public today. What leads a woman to kill? And to kill so many? And what does our own fascination say about us?
Featured Guest: Harold Schechter, a true crime historian who focuses extensively on serial killers and mass murders in history.
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Perhaps best known as the long-standing Royal Mistress for King Louis XV of France, Madame de Pompadour has become synonymous with a debauched period of French history. Known for her astounding beauty, wit, and charm, much of Madame de Pompadour's legacy is wrapped up in her supposed frivolity and manipulation. But who was the woman behind that glittering mask? Prof. Jones discusses a woman who deserves far more credit for her brilliant politicking and unique relationship with a womanizing king.
Featured Guest: Prof. Collin Jones, a scholar of cultural and social history in 18th century France.
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Fashion History is an integral part of our understanding of the past. It provides a visual marker of societal changes over time. It is also an accessible avenue into the study of history. We all wake up in the morning and put on clothes. We have plans, thoughts, and intentions behind what we choose and what we scorn. This can be a thread that connects us to other people throughout thousands of years of history. In particular it also provides a unique look into women’s history. Many women throughout the past have used clothes and accessories as a representation of political opinions or loyalties, social status, self-expression, and a way to blaze an influential trail in fashion trends.
In today’s special episode, I will be discussing the significance of fashion history in women’s history with Belle, the creator of Silhouettes: A Fashion History Podcast.
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“I marvel that Aspasia, who is only a woman, should be able to compose such a speech; she must be a rare one.” –Menexenus by Plato
The ancient Greeks loom large in history. Responsible for architectural wonders, cultural institutions, and historic figures However, there is one woman who loomed large on the Greek political and philosophical stage who has been relegated to the shadows of history, Aspasia. A highly educated woman who married the powerful politician, Pericles, became a mentor and teacher to Socrates, and faced ridicule from society and her husband’s political opponents. She was compared to Helen of Troy and blamed for everything from famine, to war, to her husband’s political decisions. After her death, her legacy forked between an uppity concubine and a gifted scholar but in recent generations she has been all but forgotten.
Featured Guest: Prof. Yvonne Korshak, a historian with a focus on ancient Greece and author of the novel Pericles and Aspasia
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When people think about wicked women, Anne Boleyn is usually one of the first names to come to mind. It seems that every generation has its own version of Anne: Slutty Anne, Religious reformer Anne, Innocent Anne, Manipulative Anne, Sexy Anne, Evil Anne, Educated Anne, Feminist Anne, the list goes on. Thousands of people flock annually to locations Anne once walked (Hampton Court, Hever Castle, The Tower of London) and documentaries, films, and tv series come out regularly devoted to her story. Henry VIII may have tried to eradicate Anne’s memory after her downfall but that only seemed to fan the flames of public fascination with this historical “other woman”. While Henry dreamed of possessing her in the flesh, subsequent generations have become determined to possess her memory.
Featured Guests: Natalie Grueninger, the creator of the podcast Talking Tudors, and a lifelong Anne Boleyn fan and Adrienne Dillard, a historian who focuses on overlooked women’s stories and the author of The Raven’s Widow, focusing on Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford.
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Behind every powerful King has stood a Queen. And some women have filled the role of both King and Queen in their own right. Some quiet, others fiery, some powerful, others left powerless, some revered, others forgotten. What creates the legacy of one Queen but erases another? Listen to this episode as I discuss that question and more with the brilliant historian Dr. Valerie Schutte.
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Polly Adler was one of the most well-known Madams in NYC during the 1920s; a ruckus era of speakeasies, brothels, the mob, and sexual expression. Polly rose from a shtetl in the Russian Pale of Settlement to become “The Queen Madam”. Not only was she known to supply girls to wealthy men, but her nightclubs that dotted the city were a favorite haunt for some of the most famous names of 1920s New York. Polly Adler’s profession was not a new one by the 1920s. Brothels, which provide the services of sex workers, have been woven within the fabric of civilization since its inception. The first record of the trade was temple-brothels operating in the region of Canaan in 2400 BCE. For many cities throughout history, an area is dedicated to the sex trade, often known as the Red Light District. It was considered a necessary, albeit shameful, element of any urban society. Polly and her profession are glorified or villainized depending on what you read. She can be depicted as a brilliant businesswoman and an open-minded feminist or as a high-end pimp and a woman betraying her own sex by seducing some of its most vulnerable into the sex trade. In the end, the true Polly Adler might be somewhere in between.
Guest Speaker: Debby Applegate, a historian and the author of Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler Icon of the Jazz Age.
Voice of Polly: Sally Bieterman
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Planned Parenthood divided and continues to divide American society to this day. But this organization that has become synonymous in the U.S. with birth control and abortion did not begin as an American company but as a global enterprise headed by strong and outspoken women. The International Planned Parenthood Federation (founded in 1953) was the first of its kind and by the 1960’s it was chaired by one of Europe’s leading Women’s Activists, Elise Ottesen-Jensen. But to understand this climactic achievement in Elise’s life, we have to go back to the beginning.
Featured Guest: Helen Erwin, an author whose book Sour Milk in Sheeps Wool focuses on Elise’s era of activism.
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She was known as the “wickedest woman in New York” during her lifetime. A physician adored by her patients but despised by the moralizing populace sweeping mid-19th century America. She defied all social conventions of her era, she rose from an immigrant widowed single mother living on the lower east side to a self-made millionaire outbidding the Catholic Diocese of New York for an empty lot on fifth avenue. She not only provided abortions and birth control to women throughout the country but blatantly advertised her services in New York newspapers. She would have been celebrated for her American spirit if she had been a man. Unapologetically ambitious, a ruthless and savvy business owner, and a resilient survivor. But Madame Restell was not a man, and in addition, she provided services such as abortion and birth control that still divide American society to this day. Instead of going down in the annals of American history alongside men like John D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and JP Morgan, the name Madame Restell has become synonymous with villainy, greed, murder, and corruption.
Featured Guests: Critically acclaimed novelist Kate Manning who is the author of My Notorious Life, a fictional interpretation of Madame Restell’s life and world, and Jennifer Wright, an author and journalist who recently published the highly successful book Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist.
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The mistresses of the French kings are some of the most iconic and recognizable. Madame de Pompadour, Agnès Sorel, Madame de Montespan, Madame de Maintenon, Diane de Poitiers. These are just a few of the hundreds of women who came to dominate the French court. In many cases they all shared a similar background; daughters of minor nobility who knew the ways of a royal court and played their parts accordingly. However, in the waning years of the French monarchy, one woman scandalized the French court by coming not from the nobility but from the working class. Jeanne Bécu, later known as Madame du Barry was a self-made woman who achieved wealth and infamy by supposedly rising from a brothel to King Louis XV’s bed. Depicted both during her lifetime and after as a vulgar, social climbing courtesan, Madame du Barry has rarely gotten a fair depiction. However, when truly analyzed, what she was able to achieve by the age of 25 is nothing less than astonishing.
Featured Guest: Dr. Christine Adams, a historian, and author that focuses mainly on French family and gender history. Christine is the co-author of the book The Creation of the French Royal Mistress: From Agnès Sorel to Madame DuBarry.
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It’s the woman everyone loves to hate. The home wrecker, the social climber, the spendthrift, the whore. Mistresses have divided our society (and marriages) for centuries. But the Royal Mistress was a role in and of itself. In the early modern period it was a title as sought after as Duke or Comte. But it also provided a uniquely powerful role for a woman in a royal court, granting them political influence often seen as only belonging to the world of men.
Today’s episode is going to be a little different than what I usually do. I am going to be uploading the entire interview that I conducted with historian, Dr. Eleanor Janega. In addition, I am not going to be talking about only a single woman but about a role they have occupied for centuries. Eleanor is a leading expert on the conceptualization of sex and sexuality throughout the medieval and early modern period. We will be discussing the historical role of the royal mistress, misconceptions, and some of the most iconic women to have received the title.
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Traitorous, wanton, frivolous, obese, foreign, deceitful. These are all terms used to describe Isabeau of Bavaria, a woman at the center of one of the most turbulent eras in French history. She shared the world stage with names like Joan of Arc, Henry V, and Charles VII but her name would not be revered and lionized by later generations. Instead, she would be cast as the ultimate villain in the tale of the struggle for France. She would be blamed for inflaming animosity and divisions within the French Court and driving her husband, King Charles VI, to madness. The information we have about Isabeau is often from years after her lifetime and none cite contemporary sources; leading us to question the validity of her legacy within the popular imagination. In the end, Isabeau’s life provides an opportunity for a much more nuanced legacy.
Featured Guest: Dr. Tracy Adams, a medieval historian who focuses on French and English literature alongside feminist theory. She is the author of numerous books, most importantly for this podcast, her seminal work The Life and Afterlife of Isabeau of Bavaria.
Special thanks to Kieren Peatling for the new theme music!
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On a hot humid Parisian July day, the aristocratic Marie, Marquise de Brinvilliers was carted out to the scaffold before a seething crowd. Marie was accused of poisoning over 50 people, including her own father and brothers. The massive crowd on July 17, 1676, had come to witness a common entertainment, an execution. Marie de Brinvilliers has run the gambit of public opinion, from femme fatale to hapless victim to hysterical woman to feminist icon. There may be partial truth in all these, but the real Marie never got to tell her own story, the legacy we have today has come to us through a tortured confession and journalistic flair.
Featured Guest: Prof. Benedetta Duramy, a professor of law at California’s Golden Gate University and a participating scholar in the book Women Criminals: An Encyclopedia of People and Issues.
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Elizaveta (Elizabeth) Petrovna was the daughter of Peter the Great and his history-making wife Catherine I, believed to have risen from being a serf to becoming Empress in her own right. Elizabeth was not raised to be ruler, there were plenty of distant male relatives to take on the mantle of Tsar, but as we’ll discuss later in this episode, Elizabeth clawed through heartbreak, tragedy, and abuse to eventually be crowned Empress of Russia. However, her reign, much like the other 16th-century empresses, has been marred by scandal. The glorious and long reign of Catherine the Great has overshadowed that of Elizabeth. In addition, Catherine made sure to steer the narrative of her relationship with Elizabeth, often painting the empress as a heartless and cold manipulator, but she was far more capable and accomplished than she is often given credit for.
Featured Guest: Author Ellen Alpsten is best known for her two novels on Elizabeth and her mother Catherine I titled Tsarina and The Tsarina’s Daughter.
Note: Keep an eye on this page for some exciting announcements in February!
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English writer, John Evelyn, called her “the curse of the nation,” while politician Sir John Reresby called her “the finest woman of her age”. By all accounts, Barbara Palmer was a stunning beauty with dark hair, blue eyes, and a charismatic personality. She rose to fame as one of the numerous royal mistresses of King Charles II. Throughout her life and subsequent legacy, Barbara has elicited both revulsion and admiration. She was a woman born into an aristocratic but impoverished family who managed to climb to one of the most powerful positions at England’s Restoration Court. Her legacy is complicated by the scandalous role she played as royal mistress, but her wit and familial loyalty insured that her relatives and children reaped the benefit of her role for generations.
Guest: Best-selling author and historian, Dr. Linda Porter
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“Let him kill me, so long as he reigns” These are reportedly the words spoken by Agrippina when an astrologer told her that her son, Nero, would become the Roman emperor but he would also murder Agrippina. When making a list of the wickedest rulers, Nero is usually near the top. A bloody Roman emperor who burned Christians during parties. His mother Agrippina has often been blamed for the monstrous reign of her son. Her name has become synonymous with incest, murder, greed, and manipulation. In reality, very little is known about the woman behind the myth. As historian Emma Southon writes in her biography on Agrippina, “As a woman, Agrippina exists only when her actions impact on the lives or actions of men in the political or military sphere because in the ancient world, as a woman, she exists only through her relationship with men.” Agrippina was born into a world of wealth, privilege, and confines. There was no guarantee that she would be remembered by history, she just as easily could have become one of the many faceless and nameless women from Antiquity. However, Agrippina fought for her memory to live on. She was a woman who was trained in the confines and expectations of Roman womanhood and blatantly decided to disregard them. This fact secured her a place in the history books but often not a favorable one. To later historians, her assertiveness, ambition, ruthlessness, and political intelligence made her unnatural, more man than woman.
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- Visa fler
