Her Half of History

I am currently on break preparing Series 14, The Woman Behind the Man. For today, I am bringing you an interview I did a few months ago with Shea LaFountaine of the History Fix podcast. If you haven’t tuned into her show, you should give it a try! She and I connected over the surprisingly interesting history of laundry, but she has at the time of this recording, 86 other episodes on subjects that vary from the history of the Nazca Lines, to the Mona Lisa, childbirth, Pocahontas, the Paris Catacombs. There’s definitely something for everyone in the History Fix podcast, including for those of you listening to this in real time, the history of Thanksgiving. ‘Tis the season.

Check out Shea's other episodes on historyfixpodcast.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

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The voters have spoken! The topic of Series 14 will be: The Woman Behind the Man.

I’ll be looking at women across the ages who had a hand (sometimes a major hand) in the success of some very well-known men. I’m hoping you’ll have heard of the men: I’m choosing the blockbusters. But I suspect the women you have not heard of. Most of them anyway.

The research has already begun, but if you know of a woman who should be included, please get in touch!

Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee.

Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.

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I make no comment on the current US election because this is a history podcast. But the entire concept of a woman running a country with even the semblance of an election involved is a recent phenomenon, historically speaking. We’re not even at a century yet. We’re not even at three quarters of a century yet.

This episode will give you the rundown on women who have done it, from Sri Lanka to Iceland. Then I turn to women who served in the parliament/Congress in various countries, and finally women as mayors, state senators, and even one all-female city government.

Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee.

Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.

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Throughout history and around the globe, women have routinely squeezed, bound, crushed, tweezed, poisoned, pricked, and stretched various portions of their anatomy, sometimes with permanent ramifications, sometimes with excruciating agony, all in the name of beauty. Why was beauty so important? There's no perfect answer, but I explain five theories:

All of those elements were present well before the 20th century, and while economics did shift dramatically for many women in the past 100 years, did anything else really change?

Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee.

Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.

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Most of the episodes in this series have been about shaping the female body in the name of beauty. But there is at least one major reshaping that has nothing to do with beauty and everything to do with survival. Breast cancer was known to the ancient Egyptians and nearly every culture since, but for most of that time there was no effective treatment. The early modern period saw a growing recognition that the tumor or maybe the whole breast needed to go: a terrifying treatment plan in an age that didn't know much about anesthesia and nothing at all about germ theory. Science got better before feminism did, but celebrities in the 1970s began to break the stigma and the silence about this sadly common disease.

It is also time to vote on the topic of series 14! Make your voice heard on the website at herhalfofhistory.com.

Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee.

Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.

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They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and history proves it: blackened teeth, modified skull shapes, extended necks, lip plates, and piercings of various body parts. All of these have been considered the height of beauty, and women went to great lengths to achieve it. This week's episode gives the details.

It is also time to vote on the topic of series 14! Make your voice heard on the website at herhalfofhistory.com.

Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee.

Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.

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Jane Wenham was accused of witchcraft in 1712. One of the trials was a search of her body. Did she or did she not have a witch's mark where her familiar sucked her blood? Or maybe a Devil's mark where he sealed her as his after a nocturnal initiation.

Most of the episodes have been on what women did to make themselves beautiful (whatever that happened to mean at the time). This episode is doing double duty as my second annual Halloween episode, and it is about what calamity might happen if perchance your body happened to have a blemish. 

Music for this episode is the "Dream of a Witch's Sabbath" by Hector Berlioz (Symphonie Fantastique, Mvmt 5). The recording is in the public domain and available on the Internet Archive.

Sound effects for this episode are freely available on freesound.org and include work by Dvideoguy, SoundFlakes, visionear, lotteria001, and others.

Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee.

Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.

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If you do have one, you are part of a very long-standing worldwide tradition. Tattoos have existed since prehistoric times in many cultures, where they were often (but not always) for women.

Evidence for henna is not nearly so old, but then again, how could we expect it to be? There may have been any number of women and cultures who used henna without leaving us any record. This episode tells the story from Spain to India.

Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee.

Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.

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Women continued to make their own cosmetics in the 18th century. Then it was suddenly immoral in the 19th century (not that some women didn't do it anyway). And then they came roaring back in the 20th century. The revival was led by actresses and eagerly followed by the vast majority of other women. Lipstick! Face powder! Rouge! Mascara! Eyeliner! Eye shadow! There was no end to the number of beauty products you could buy in the 20th century.

Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee.

Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.

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Cosmetics are nothing new. Women (and sometimes men) were using them in Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, and India. This is an overview of the art of making up your face across the millennia with white lead, poppy juice, mercury, and more. Also what the menfolk thought about it. (Hint: They were largely against the idea.)

Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee.

Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices