The Story of Woman

In this episode, I talk with Katrina Majkut about her book, The Adventures and Discoveries of a Feminist Bride, a personal and powerful prenuptial journey through Western wedding culture. Katrina demonstrates how there is no such thing as ‘traditional marriage’ or a ‘traditional wedding’, as both have been evolving for centuries, and she unpicks the importance of updating our outdated traditions that support the wage gap, street harassment, sex and gender discrimination, and limit reproductive rights. With a deep dive into behavioral economics, social psychology and a good dash of humor, Katrina offers a fresh take on how wedding rituals - done properly - can better support marriage equality and respect diverse people’s needs. Some topics of discussion include: Gendered socialisation that begins long before the legal marriage age The importance of language and the decision to change your name, or not Bachelorette parties and the very minor differences in duties for bridesmaids and groomsmen Why revisiting our marital traditions is necessary in the fight for gender equity Ways to modernise a wedding without compromising on what's important to you And more! The quotes you will hear read during the interview are taken directly from the book, The Adventures and Discoveries of a Feminist Bride. Transcription is available here Mentioned in the episode: Strapless - Deborah Davis Bad Feminist - Roxane Gay We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -- Become a Patron for access to bonus content and to support the podcast, or buy me a (metaphorical) coffee Follow along: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Tik Tok | Youtube | LinkedIn Subscribe to the newsletter Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - and be sure to rate and review to help other people find us! Explore The Story of Woman book recommendations in the US and the UK - purchases support the podcast AND local bookstores 🤩 www.thestoryofwomanpodcast.com

In this episode, I talk with urban scholar Leslie Kern about her book, Feminist City. We tend to think about our built environment as fixed and nothing to do with sexism, discrimination or bias but like everything else in our world, our cities are shaped by gender, as they were designed for one type of man, at the exclusion of women.  Cities aren’t built to accommodate women’s bodies, women’s needs, or women’s desires. So what would a feminist city look like? In our conversation, Leslie exposes what is hidden in plain sight: the social inequalities embedded into our cities, homes, and neighbourhoods, and how we might change this. Some topics of discussion include: What is “the female fear”, and why women are not being irrational in feeling fearful Navigating the city as a parent Why women often need headphones in order to be left alone (”smile, sweetheart!”) Street safety and why policing is not the answer to keeping women safe How the lack of public infrastructure for care work deepens inequality among women as we participate in multiple layers of exploitation just to keep ourselves afloat By reimagining our cities we can build more just and sustainable environments for all And more! The quotes you will hear read during the interview are taken directly from the book, Feminist City. Transcription is available here Buy the book: US | UK  Mentioned in the episode: Blue Monday by Nicci French Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson Feminism Interrupted by Lola Olufemi Sex and The Revitalized City by Leslie Kern Safetipin app -- Become a Patron for access to bonus content and to support the podcast, or buy me a (metaphorical) coffee Follow along: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Tik Tok | Youtube | LinkedIn Subscribe to the newsletter Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - and be sure to rate and review to help other people find us! Explore The Story of Woman book recommendations in the US and the UK - purchases support the podcast AND local bookstores 🤩 www.thestoryofwomanpodcast.com

In this episode, I talk with Paula Stone Williams - internationally known speaker on issues of gender equity - about her book, As a Woman: What I Learned About Power, Sex and the Patriarchy After I Transitioned. A father, husband, and successful pastor and CEO, Paula Stone Williams made the decision to transition at the age of 60 and quickly discovered her life as a woman was not going to be as easy as her life as a white man. Transgender people are in a very unique position having lived as both genders, and in her book Paula discusses her journey to transition as well as the integration of spirituality and sexuality. Paula illuminates the aspects of our gender socialization and culture that often go unexamined, demonstrating how drastically her life changed when nothing else did but her gender.  Some topics of discussion include: The role that religion played in Paula’s life as a child, and her long, successful career in an evangelical community that she was kicked out of as soon as they learned she was transgender Her life now compared to when she was living as a man, including what she finds most frustrating and most common Losing her status, her voice and even her confidence after coming up against what women have struggled with for millennia - being listened to, taken seriously or simply not interrupted And more! The quotes you will hear read during the interview are taken directly from the book, As a Woman. Transcription is available here Mentioned in the episode: The Middle Passage - James Hollis Swamplands of the Soul - James Hollis She's My Dad - Jonathan S. Williams -- Become a Patron for access to bonus content and to support the podcast, or buy me a (metaphorical) coffee Follow along: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Tik Tok | Youtube | LinkedIn Subscribe to the newsletter Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - and be sure to rate and review to help other people find us! Explore The Story of Woman book recommendations in the US and the UK - purchases support the podcast AND local bookstores 🤩 www.thestoryofwomanpodcast.com

In this episode, I talk with Associate Professor of Sociology Dr Kystale Littlejohn about her book, Just Get on the Pill. A keenly researched and incisive examination, Dr Littlejohn investigates how birth control became a fundamentally unbalanced and gendered responsibility. Though it takes two people to make a pregnancy, prevention is seen almost entirely as a woman’s responsibility. In Just Get On The Pill, Dr Littlejohn breaks this down, unpacking how this gendered approach encroaches on reproductive and bodily autonomy and poses obstacles for preventing disease.  Some topics of discussion include: Society’s ideas about gender, the phenomenon of ‘gendered compulsory birth control’ and the need to see pregnancy prevention as yet another form of domestic labor The importance of language, and the problem with words like male and female condoms, and also ‘stealthing’... which should really just be called sexual assault How poor women are blamed for causing unintended pregnancies instead of recognising that poverty is a reason people might label their pregnancies as undesired in the first place How gendering birth control alienates trans, intersex and gender nonconforming people What a more liberating approach to birth control looks like And more! The quotes you will hear read during the interview are taken directly from the book, Just Get on the Pill. Transcription is available here Buy the book: US | UK  Mentioned in the episode: Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi Killing the Black Body - Dorothy Roberts Sexual Justice - Alexandra Brodsky -- Become a Patron for access to bonus content and to support the podcast, or buy me a (metaphorical) coffee Follow along: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Tik Tok | Youtube | LinkedIn Subscribe to the newsletter Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - and be sure to rate and review to help other people find us! Explore The Story of Woman book recommendations in the US and the UK - purchases support the podcast AND local bookstores 🤩 www.thestoryofwomanpodcast.com

This is Part Two of my conversation with feminist historian Elinor Cleghorn about her brilliant book, Unwell Women. If you haven’t listened to Part One yet, we suggest you head there first - it’s Episode 5 of the podcast.  In Unwell Women, Elinor explores the history of medicine, exposing the fundamentally social, cultural and political foundations of medical practice and the long shadow that a troubling legacy of prejudice casts over the development of objective knowledge. She explores the intersection between illness, pain, belief and science, busting myths and equipping women with the knowledge they need to take control of their medical care. In part two, we discuss: Medical feminism, and how women are not just unwell women but have fought for women’s rights - in health and in life - throughout all of medicine’s troubling history Pregnancy - how history can help us understands today’s dire rates of maternal mortality (especially for Black and other marginalized women) Male birth control... or lack thereof The rebranding of hysteria and how we see it play out in the 19th and 20th centuries Why telling your story is so important and how we can join together as a collective force to continue building on what all those who came before us have achieved And more! The quotes you will hear read during the interview are taken directly from the book, Unwell Women. Transcription is available here Buy the book: US | UK  Mentioned in the episode: NATAL podcast Unrest documentary The Sex Lives of African Women - Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah Matrix - Lauren Groff Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Brontë -- Become a Patron for access to bonus content and to support the podcast, or buy me a (metaphorical) coffee Follow along: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Tik Tok | Youtube | LinkedIn Subscribe to the newsletter Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - and be sure to rate and review to help other people find us! Explore The Story of Woman book recommendations in the US and the UK - purchases support the podcast AND local bookstores 🤩 www.thestoryofwomanpodcast.com

This episode is Part One of my conversation with feminist historian Elinor Cleghorn about her book, Unwell Women - we had so much to chat about that the interview is split into two parts! Going to the doctor and seeking medical advice can be a big deal in and of itself, but what about being misdiagnosed, misunderstood, or simply not believed about your own body? These are all too common experiences for women today, and Elinor Cleghorn helps us understand how we got here, arguing that medicine is every bit as social and cultural as it is scientific. In part one, we discuss: How we see medicine’s painful legacy manifest today Elinor’s story as an unwell woman and her diagnosis of lupus The 'wandering womb' of ancient Greece Why women were positioned as inferior when their “special” organ is the very one that gives life to all humans (read: power) Witch trials in Medieval Europe The “debilitating disease” of menstruation and how its still surrounded by misunderstanding and prejudiced beliefs And more! The quotes you will hear read during the interview are taken directly from the book, Unwell Women. Transcription is available here Buy the book: US | UK  -- Become a Patron for access to bonus content and to support the podcast, or buy me a (metaphorical) coffee Follow along: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Tik Tok | Youtube | LinkedIn Subscribe to the newsletter Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - and be sure to rate and review to help other people find us! Explore The Story of Woman book recommendations in the US and the UK - purchases support the podcast AND local bookstores 🤩 www.thestoryofwomanpodcast.com

In this episode, I talk with Arab gender researcher and poet Farida D. about her book, Rants of a Rebel Arab Feminist.  Writing under a pen name to protect her identity, Farida D. writes about everyday oppressions from an Arab feminist's perspective while demonstrating how we are all connected under the one patriarchal system. Some topics of discussion include: What it means to be an Arab feminist What the West gets wrong and how to be better allies The spectrum of oppression that manifests differently depending on culture, but connects us under the one patriarchal system Everyday oppressions such as bras, periods, hijabs and the censorship of women in Arab media The allusion of free choice and the great myth of women being to have it all How to begin to unlearn and heal within the patriarchy And more! The quotes you will hear read during the interview are taken directly from the book, Rants of a Rebel Arab Feminist. Transcription is available here Mentioned in the episode: Nadine Naber TedX Talk: Arab Feminism is Not an Oxymoron This is for the Women Who Don't Give a Fuck - Janne Robinson Instagram accounts of other Arab women and allies to learn from: @imjustineaf @drteresawood @fatdoctoruk @jannerobinson @lalalaletmeexplain @sareytales @saharpaz @uncomfortable_bliss @catcallsofcairo @mitchellnikole @zarakayk @iamrotana -- Become a Patron for access to bonus content and to support the podcast, or buy me a (metaphorical) coffee Follow along: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Tik Tok | Youtube | LinkedIn Subscribe to the newsletter Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - and be sure to rate and review to help other people find us! Explore The Story of Woman book recommendations in the US and the UK - purchases support the podcast AND local bookstores 🤩 www.thestoryofwomanpodcast.com

In this episode, I talk with Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Neuroimaging Gina Rippon about her book, The Gendered Brain, which for our US listeners is called Gender and Our Brains. Since the day we are born, we face deeply ingrained (false) beliefs that our sex determines our skills and preferences - from toys and colors to career choices and salaries. Using the latest neuroscience, Gina unpacks the stereotypes and shows how these messages mold our ideas of ourselves, each other and even shape our brains accordingly. She explores how the idea of a gendered brain has led to long-standing inequality and how busting these myths can help reduce the (mis)use of neuroscience research to (mis)represent our understanding of the brain. Some topics of discussion include: The origins of the “female brain” and “male brain” myth, and what perpetuates it How “a gendered world produces a gendered brain” How early “gender bombardment” begins and the role it has from day zero of a child’s life Why women experience lower levels of self-esteem and higher rates of self-silencing The gender gap in certain STEM fields The future of sex and gender, and where we need to go from here in order to get rid of these myths once and for all And more! The quotes you will hear read during the interview are taken directly from the book, The Gendered Brain. Transcription is available here Mentioned in the episode: Scientific American article Testosterone Rex - Cordelia Fine Reshma Saujani - Girls Who Code Anne Fausto-Sterling Daphna Joel Lise Eliot - Pink Brain, Blue Brain -- Become a Patron for access to bonus content and to support the podcast, or buy me a (metaphorical) coffee Follow along: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Tik Tok | Youtube | LinkedIn Subscribe to the newsletter Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - and be sure to rate and review to help other people find us! Explore The Story of Woman book recommendations in the US and the UK - purchases support the podcast AND local bookstores 🤩 www.thestoryofwomanpodcast.com

Have you ever had a great idea which was ignored in a meeting, only for it to be wildly applauded and rapidly implemented when later suggested by a man? In this episode, I talk with Katrine Marçal about her book, Mother of Invention: How Good Ideas Get Ignored In An Economy Built For Men. From the rolling suitcases to computer science to addressing the climate crisis, Katrine illuminates how our world is shaped by gender; how gender bias has skewed innovation, technology, and history; and how women’s intelligence and ingenuity hold the key to our future. Virtually every aspect of our existence is affected by our deeply held beliefs about the role of men and women within society. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Some topics of discussion include: How the founding father of economics forgot about women Why it took 5000 years to put wheels onto suitcases, and insight into why electric cars disappeared from our streets 100 years ago How gender influences what we deem “technology” and “technical” skills Why “the robots are coming!” narrative is inaccurate and lessons from the first industrial revolution Why women hold the key to our future And more! The quotes you will hear read during the interview are taken directly from the book, Mother of Invention. Transcription is available here Buy the book: US | UK Mentioned in the episode: Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? - Katrine Marçal Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John le Carré The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guin Unwell Women - Elinor Cleghorn - listen to The Story of Woman episode with Elinor -- Become a Patron for access to bonus content and to support the podcast, or buy me a (metaphorical) coffee Follow along: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Tik Tok | Youtube | LinkedIn Subscribe to the newsletter Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - and be sure to rate and review to help other people find us! Explore The Story of Woman book recommendations in the US and the UK - purchases support the podcast AND local bookstores 🤩 www.thestoryofwomanpodcast.com

In this episode, I talk with journalist, broadcaster and non-executive director Mary Ann Sieghart about her book, The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men and What We Can Do About It. Unbelievably, there is still a huge gulf between men and women in the workplace when it comes to pay, promotion and authority. Referred to as “the mother of all gender gaps”, Mary Ann exposes the unseen bias at work in our everyday lives, marshaling a wealth of data with precision and insight to reveal the systemic sexism that still pervades in our society, and how to address it in ways that benefit us all. Some topics of discussion include: Why women are still taken less seriously than men, and why people feel uncomfortable with female leaders The unconscious bias that is perpetuated by both men and women How powerful world leaders such as Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel experience the authority gap Backlash resulting from “the dangers of having an opinion and a vagina” What men, women and society stand to gain by tackling the authority gap What individuals and institutions can do about it And more! The quotes you will hear read during the interview are taken directly from the book, The Authority Gap. Transcription of this episode is available here Buy the book: US | UK Mentioned in this episode: French Braid - Anne Tyler Girl, Woman, Other - Bernadine Evaristo Women: Know Your Limits! Harry Enfield - BBC comedy -- Become a Patron for access to bonus content and to support the podcast, or buy me a (metaphorical) coffee Follow along: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Tik Tok | Youtube | LinkedIn Subscribe to the newsletter Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - and be sure to rate and review to help other people find us! Explore The Story of Woman book recommendations in the US and the UK - purchases support the podcast AND local bookstores 🤩 www.thestoryofwomanpodcast.com