Re-Feminist History (aka Bitchstory)

Listen  to the Podcast on  Spotify Listen on Apple Listen on the web  (NO APP NEEDED) Email me:  kelly@untamedmoon.com  (NEW EMAIL ADDRESS) LISTEN TO THE  Mictecacihuatl  EPISODE  HERE Mictecacihuatl ...If you say it 3 times, does she appear, like Beetlejuice? Let's hope not. This is the Aztec name of the goddess from whom the lore and traditions around Dia De Los Muertos originate! Most of us are somewhat familiar with Day of the Dead, Sugar Skulls, and all that stuff that happens in Mexican culture around Halloween. But here's the real scoop -  The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican civilization that dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries. They were highly accomplished in agriculture and trade, and were known for their art and architecture. The Aztec Empire was active from 1345 - 1521. In 1427 the "triple alliance" was formed and the Empire was established as a confederation of three city-states: Tenochtitlan, Tetz...

Listen  to the Podcast on  Spotify Listen on Apple Listen on the web  (NO APP NEEDED) Email me:  kelly@untamedmoon.com  (NEW EMAIL ADDRESS) LISTEN TO THE  Bonus Shirley Chisholm  EPISODE  HERE Did you know that Kamala Harris isn't the first black woman to run for POTUS?  There have been 5 black men who have run, starting with Frederick Douglas in 1888 and then of course Barack Obama was the first black POTUS.  But this blog is about the ladies.  In 1972, Shirley Chisholm, who was also the first black woman in Congress, ran on a Presidential ticket, and had a reasonable shot.  It's crazy to me, because in the 60s and 70s, in case you hadn't heard, the US was very divided on the issues of race, AND gender.  Black people were barely safe in some parts of the country, so having a black woman candidate is just extraordinary to me.  Women couldn't even have their own bank accounts at that time! But there she was, Shirley C...

Listen  to the Podcast on  Spotify Listen on Apple Listen on the web  (NO APP NEEDED) Email me:  kelly@untamedmoon.com  (NEW EMAIL ADDRESS) LISTEN TO THE  Philippines History  EPISODE  HERE I'm willing to bet that you don't know diddly squat about the Philippines.   Smarty Pants Lisa didn't.  And of course I didn't, cuz I'm not a history major. So we're all learning! That is truly what I love about our podcast. We just recorded an episode highlighting 5 Filipinas who have been instrumental in independence and cultural history for the Philippines.  Their quest for independence has been long and hard won, starting with a bunch of colonizing bullshit that started in the 1500's.  In 1521, good ol' Ferdinand Magellan tried to "discover" the Philippines islands, but um...they killed him.  I had no idea Magellan died that way, did you?   Well despite that uh, "setback", the Portuguese tried again and successfully ...

Listen to the Podcast on  Spotify Listen on Apple Listen on the web  (NO APP NEEDED) Email me:  kelly@untamedmoon.com  (NEW EMAIL ADDRESS) LISTEN TO THE  Haitian History  EPISODE  HE RE One of the prominent figures of the Haitian revolution wasn’t a soldier, or a politician…she was a voodoo priestess! A voodoo priestess is called a “mambo”. Cecile Fatiman was one such mambo. Mambo Fatiman played a crucial role in galvanizing the enslaved population of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) against their colonial oppressors. Her contributions, often overshadowed by military leaders like Toussaint L'Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, highlight the integral role of spirituality and cultural identity in the quest for freedom. Fatiman is perhaps best known for her involvement in the Bois Caïman ceremony in August 1791, which is widely regarded as the catalyst for the uprising that led to Haiti's independence from French colonial rule. During this clandestine gathe...

Listen to the Podcast on  Spotify Listen on Apple Listen on the web  (NO APP NEEDED) Email me:  kelly@untamedmoon.com  (NEW EMAIL ADDRESS) LISTEN TO THE  Haitian History  EPISODE  HERE click the beautiful photo for a lovely story This week's Bitchstory (aka:Re-Feminist History)(aka: feminists who swear and google things while recording) is about the Haitian Revolution.  Timely. Relevant. Educational...that's what we  are! Anyway, we've been on a roll with talk about various revolutions so here we are with Haiti.   Guess who "discovered" Haiti? Yes, our favorite pillager for the crown and dude who "discovered" places where humans were already very well established...Christopher Columbus. Sigh.   "Ayiti" (as its native dwellers called her) was Spanish, then French, then the British put their elbows in it for a bit. And the US "occupied" Haiti for a minute as well.  Haiti was rich in natural resources like gold, copper, ...

We just recorded an episode of Bitchstory in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, and one of the badass ladies we discussed was Frida Kahlo .  Most people have heard of her, or are fans of her very expressive artwork from the early 20th century.  Many people would recognize her by her famous eyebrows, which have become a symbol of feminism in and of themselves.  Frida rejected accepted beauty standards for women, and her eyebrows were like a middle finger to the patriarchy.   But like all famous people, there was much more to her than her art or her eyebrows.  Frida had Polio as a child, and was left with lingering issues from that. Then when she was 18, a bus she was riding collided with an electric trolley car.  A steel handrail impaled her (yes, impaled), going in one hip, and coming out the other side of her body.  It punctured her uterus and her stomach.  Frankly it is a mighty miracle they saved her life. Moreover, they saved her uterus....

After covering Marie Antoinette in our last episode of "Bitchstory", I became intrigued (read: obsessed)with the idea of how many (probably countless) women in history have been wrongly villainized.  We once covered Margaret Beaufort , the mother of Henry VII, and you can listen to that here . She was hell bent on making sure her son was able to claim the throne, and there have been other "Queen Regent" mothers who have done much the same. Beaufort's father died when she was only 1. She was married to Edmund Tudor, pregnant at age 12, and then lost her husband to the plague before the baby was born. She was only 13 when Henry VII was born, and she never bore another child. I'm sure pregnancy and birth at age 12 damaged her ability to conceive again, but there is no history of that that I am aware of. Why would there be? So Henry became her singular focus. And she was not well liked for her ambition. What's new? Ambitious women are almost always hated. A...