Mademoiselle Chevalier d'Éon is a contentious figure among modern historians. For the first 40 years of her life she lives as a man, during which time she works as a spy for the French Government, serves in the military, negotiates the Treaty of Paris (ending the Seven Years War with Britain), and blackmails the King of France to avoid imprisonment. However, eventually, rumors begin to spread that she is actually a woman — so what does this 18th century Broad do to quash the rumors? She decides ...
Jun 28, 2023•43 min•Ep. 165
When you google the term "trans activist" you'll find Raquel Willis is at the top of your results. Empowered & encouraged by her loving and supportive family, even in the wake of her father's passing, Raquel was lit up by the activist flame as Black Lives Matter took center stage in the US, but frustrated by the lack of support for transgender people within the movement - Raquel was determined to shift her activist focus specifically to her own trans community. When she was catapulted to the...
Jun 21, 2023•34 min•Ep. 164
Chloe Skye joins Sara to ring in PRIDE MONTH on the pod. Specifically, this year, we are celebrating and lifting up the stories of our trans sisters. WHAT IS GOING ON with all these States trying to erase the existence of transgender people? What is all this vitriol and hatred REALLY ABOUT and how can we fight against it, and best support our trans friends? As a proud member of the trans community, Chloe's personal insights bring an astounding depth of knowledge and perspective to a conversation...
Jun 14, 2023•42 min
BYSK is once again kicking off PRIDE month with one of our previously aired, but absolutely ESSENTIAL PRIDE Broads - MARSHA "Pay It No Mind" JOHNSON! Marsha was one of the figureheads in the fight for LGBTQ rights and a true legend. She was (allegedly) at the Stonewall Inn on the night the riots broke out, kicking off the LGBTQ revolution. She also helped organize the first Pride Parade and founded STAR house, a home for abandoned or homeless LGBT children and young adults to keep them off the s...
Jun 07, 2023•23 min
This week, Sara brings on guest host Dawn "Sam" Alden to teach us all about the Valiant Ladies of Potosí, two teenage girls who loved sword fighting, mayhem, and one another, and traveled the countryside to defend the freedom of the underprivileged. Check out the full episode to learn more of their exploits, and why they qualify as Broads You Should Know! — A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world! 3 Ways you...
May 31, 2023•21 min
Sibyl Ludington, the oldest of 12 kids, may have only been 16 years old, but she knew exactly what to do when British soldiers burned her neighboring town to the ground: She Paul Revere'd it! Jumping on her horse, Sibyl rides over 40 miles across the countryside to awaken the militia, calling to arms the troops for what would be the Battle of Ridgefield. Her tale is legendary. And we might mean that literally. Historians have a lot of opinions about Sibyl's midnight, including the question of wh...
May 24, 2023•19 min•Ep. 163
Ching Shih came from humble beginnings, raised in a poor village and forced into prostitution at age 13 to help support the family. Early on, she realized she had a particular way with some of the male clients, and used her wit and beauty to eventually become the ruler of over 80,000 people in a pirate empire of her own making. — A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world! — 3 Ways you can help support the podc...
May 17, 2023•33 min
Ancient Greece in the 4th Century BCE was pretty tough for women. Women weren't allowed to practice Midwifery legally, and it was inappropriate for male Doctors to see female patients, so women and babies are dying in childbirth in record numbers and Agnodice is SICK OF IT! She bucks the law, deceives the teachers at med school by dressing as a man, and she becomes a gynecologist. When her practice begins to blossom, her male competition accuse her of committing the worst crime a Doctor at the t...
May 10, 2023•16 min•Ep. 162
When Sampat Pal Devi witnesses a women being beaten mercilessly by her husband she could not just walk by and ignore it. When her intercession fails, she returns the next day with five other women and their lathi (bamboo rods) and they beat the abuser. Word of their justice immediately spreads, and women begin flocking to Devi to help them right the terrible wrongs they have suffered at the hands of men and corrupt officials through the region, and THE GULABI GANG (Translation: The Pink Gang) is...
May 03, 2023•19 min•Ep. 161
No, she's not just a funny sketch from History of the World Part II - Shirley Chisholm was a real woman and she was the first black woman to run for President of the United States of America! But that isn't the only thing she did. She was also an important civil rights leader and politician - serving on the New York State Assembly and she was the first black woman elected to Congress. She accomplished so many incredible things while she was in office and her story is one you can't miss. Listen i...
Apr 26, 2023•26 min
In 1908 making coffee was a pain in the butt, and Melitta Bentz was frustrated to take a sip on her mug only to have over-brewed flavor and grounds in her mouth. She sets to work to fix this problem, and soon she graces the world with the paper coffee filter! Her invention not only creates income and jobs for her whole family, it also creates a company that will stand the test of time, including two world wars, to reach extraordinary heights and remains in operation even today! Listen in for Mel...
Apr 19, 2023•17 min•Ep. 160
In 1856, 23-year-old Kate Warne walks into Allan Pinkerton's office replying to a job posting recruiting new detectives. Only, no woman had ever been hired as a detective before. It was unthinkable, even laughable. However, Kate's extremely logical arguments eventually win over Pinkerton and she would, indeed, become the first female detective in US history. And she was a VERY GOOD one, at that. In fact, her brilliant role in averting an assassination attempt on President-elect Lincoln's life wo...
Apr 12, 2023•18 min•Ep. 159
Today Sara brings us the story of one of the most epic warrior Queens in history: BOUDICA! When the Romans destroy everything most precious to her, take her land, enslave her people and lash her publicly - this Queen of the Iceni tribe (in pre-celtic Britain) doesn't sit around and cry about it. She rallies her Celts, combining the warring tribes to lead a legendary show of force against the Roman colonies and the Roman Legions themselves. How do her and her ragtag army fare against the steeled ...
Apr 05, 2023•24 min
Bringing back this classic bad*ss broad - 16th Century Irish pirate queen, Grace O'Malley! Grace was infamous in Ireland and England alike. Her enemies feared her. Her followers respected her. And for over 40 years, she raided and pillaged English settlements in protest of the creeping Imperialism in her home country. A day after the birth of her son, she got out of bed to quell an attempt by corsairs to take over her ship. Check out the full episode to hear these stories and more, including a f...
Mar 29, 2023•36 min
You've seen the iconic photo - a woman jogging in the midst of a large race with a blustery man at her shoulder grabbing at her sweatshirt and runner identification tag. But what is the story behind this photo? And who is this legendary Broad we see? This Broad is none other than KATHRINE SWITZER - the first woman to officially* run the Boston Marathon! Hear the full story behind this legendary photo and one of the most pivotal moments in the fight for women's rights in the United States. * We s...
Mar 22, 2023•30 min•Ep. 158
Jean Nidetch spent much of her early life yo-yo-ing between different fad diets, pills, Doctors' recommendations and even specialized facilities that were said to be able to help her lose weight, but time after time the result was the same: She'd lose a few pounds, only to have it bounce right back and be even harder to lose the next time around. She finally decided there had to be a better way, and she invited a small group of women to join her at her house for what would become the very first ...
Mar 15, 2023•35 min•Ep. 157
Maria Sibylla Merian was born into a family of artists in mid-17th century Germany, so it's no surprise when she starts detailing fine illustrations of nature at just 13 years old, but what we're sure her parents didn't see coming was her vast collection of... CATERPILLARS! That's right. Maria ends up becoming the foremost expert on our favorite very hungry insects, and whole bunch of other works of nature including a wide variety of plants and even frogs! Maria's research and drawings are so me...
Mar 08, 2023•16 min•Ep. 156
Dottie spends her young life on her father's sailboat, becoming quite a good swimmer, even as a toddler; but when her dad asks her to fetch something he accidentally dropped 15 feet under the waves Dottie unlocks her destiny as one of the best divers - and one of the only female divers of the mid-20th century. Dottie's journey upward is filled with fun and joy, scares with underwater sealife (can you say GREAT WHITE SHARK!?), and of course, as with so many of our Broads, great battles with the p...
Mar 01, 2023•20 min•Ep. 155
Marian Anderson had a gift for singing from an early age. Her aunt Mary helped her book paid gigs as early as age 6. When her family could no longer afford lessons, the community and church pooled their resources to help develop Marian's talents. From there, her career blossomed, and she performed live on the radio and in front of a crowd of 75,000 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and then all around the globe, breaking down race barriers as she went, including being the first Black woman t...
Feb 22, 2023•32 min
It's (still) Black History Month, and the perfect reason for Sara and Chloe to continue strolling through all of the incredible Black Broads we have learned about since the beginning of this pod! This is part 2 of an episode whose first half aired last week. We (briefly) revisit each Black Broad, spanning across time and the globe including Madagascar's Ranavalona I, II and III, to the revolutionary Three Queens of the Virgin Islands, Pharaoh Hatshepsut, Civil Rights Movement giantesses Coretta ...
Feb 15, 2023•26 min
It's Black History Month, and thus the perfect reason for Sara and Chloe take a stroll through all of the incredible Black Broads we have learned about since the beginning of this pod! We (briefly) revisit each Black Broad, from our very first, Madam CJ Walker, through activists who built the civil rights movement like Ella Jo Baker and Mary McLeod Bethune, to babes that won the west, like Stagecoach Mary, inventors like Sarah Goode, heroes like Chief Theresa Kachindamoto, and some of the greate...
Feb 08, 2023•27 min
Born enslaved, Biddy traveled with her master across the United States to settle in the new Mormon Utopia of Utah before heading even farther west to California. When he sought to return with Biddy to Texas, where her children would have been—as far as Texas law was concerned—immediately enslaved, she enlisted the help of a few free Black people, and successfully sued her owner for her freedom. After that, without ever learning to read or write, Biddy became a real estate entrepreneur and busine...
Feb 01, 2023•25 min
Given to the convent at just 9 years old, young Benedetta sees miracles in everything from a statue falling, to a big black dog not killing her. As she dives into the strict aesthetic lifestyle her experiences evolve to full-on visions including a marriage proposal from Christ himself. WHOA! Her visitations and eventual stigmata quickly raise her to leadership levels and she gains much notoriety, along with her Abbess title. But not all the nuns in the convent believe in her visions or her leade...
Jan 25, 2023•41 min•Ep. 154
Frances Farmer first began making waves as a senior at West Seattle High when her prize-winning essay pissed off a whole bunch of people. Franny knew then and there that she was different and destined for something bigger and she jumped into action to forge ahead with her dream: to be an actress on Broadway. Her rise to fame was absolutely meteoric as she stunned audiences from her small local stage productions, to the studio executives at Paramount, to the silver screen audiences and finally to...
Jan 18, 2023•48 min•Ep. 153
Anne Heche dazzled the screen in almost every role she ever played, and earlier this year her shining light was snuffed out in terrible, unexplained tragedy. However, much of her public life was scorned by the press and she was called - and even called herself - "crazy". How did this moniker come to be for one of the most brave and brilliant Hollywood talents we've ever seen? Her autobiographer is impossible to find for less than a fortune following her untimely death, but you can hear more abou...
Jan 11, 2023•31 min•Ep. 152
Sara and Chloe reunite once more to take a look through the spectacular Broads of 2022! This action-packed episode covers not only the top 10 most-listened to episodes of 2022, our personal favorite Broads on the pod and IRL, and our big milestone this year, but we also dive into our favorite feminist pop culture entries this year, the worst the patriarchal and colonial drivel, and of course a toast to those fabulous Broads that we lost in 2022. It's the wrap-up show you don't want to miss! — A ...
Jan 04, 2023•52 min
This week, Sam researched Yoko Ono, and finally answers the question of whether she broke up the Beatles (spoilers: she didn't!). Yoko Ono's life was rarely easy. She was in Tokyo during the bombing of Japan in WWII, and her family was forced to beg for food. She later lost a daughter and husband to a Christian Japanese Cult. John Lennon was killed in front of her. And on top of all of that, she was vilified in the press. Despite everything, she's managed to continue creating artwork and contrib...
Dec 28, 2022•40 min
You've surely heard of Charlie Chaplin, but did you know he inherited his talent from his brilliant mother Hannah Chaplin? Okay, his dad was a talented performer too, but it was Hannah that nurtured Charlie's skill from his youngest days - performing skits and songs and stories for him and his brother and bringing them along with her while she worked. Why then, are all the history books filled with nothing but "Hannah Chaplin was crazy" language? The answer is complicated and Hannah's story is q...
Dec 21, 2022•22 min•Ep. 151
Mary Todd Lincoln likely exists in your mind as merely "the wife of President Lincoln", but her story is so much richer, and packed full with a stunning amount of patriarchal injustice. From her youth as a wealthy socialite, to the first lady spotlight, then a torrent of grievous tragedies which ultimately leads to her own son arranging a trial of "insanity", Mary's story is one wild ride. Listen now her the whole of it and decide for yourself whether you think that trial was necessary. — A Broa...
Dec 14, 2022•37 min•Ep. 150
Margery was one of the more mysterious and unknown mystics of the medieval times until 1934, when her manuscript entitled The Book of Margery Kempe was discovered. Her book blew the door off the hinges, instantly becoming not only one of the most important historical documentations of what life for a woman at the turn of the 15th century was like, but also becoming the first autobiography published in the English language as well as likely the first recorded account of serious mental illness. Fo...
Dec 07, 2022•30 min•Ep. 149
