Re-Feminist History (aka Bitchstory)

  Listen to the Podcast on Spotify Listen on Apple Listen on the web  (via Podcast Addict - NO APP NEEDED)  Email me:   kelly@thebitchwhisperer.me This week on episode 64, we cover two ladies who have helped shape the comedy industry. I believe comedy is group therapy for society. It forces us to laugh at how stupid we are sometimes. Comedians take pain, often their own, and turn it into laughter.  Many of the famous comedians we know and love came from very difficult circumstances and pull from that pain to create their comedy.  That is  some kind of alchemical fuckin' magic, that's what that is! Good comedy punches UP at systems and power and patriarchy and assholes.  Good comedy never punches down at the disenfranchised, marginalized, or suffering. Good comedy encourages us to look at ourselves and check...am I the asshole?  I think comedy serves an important service among the arts in society.  The first woman from this episode is...

Last week I told you about Alice Paul and how she was a massive contributor to the success of the 19th amendment and other women's rights battles.  One of her cohorts and co-author of the ERA was Crystal Eastman.  To start, here's a few quotes by Eastman that I really love:  "A good deal of tyranny goes by the name of protection." (this one really hits me, especially in light of current events in the USA) "If I had my way…we would tell the men of this country we were not going to work any more [sic], we were not going to contribute or to assist them with anything until they gave us a share in the government of the country…If this strike were possible I am willing to wager that women would be given the ballot within several hours." (ADDRESS TO THE NEW YORK EQUAL FRANCHISE ASSOCIATION, DECEMBER 1910) "I believe women have a great deal more mechanical ability than they have been credited with, but naturally when they are allowed to practice with needles an...

  As I was looking for topics for the next episode of  "Re-Feminist History", I noticed that in the month of March, a lot happened, over many years, with women's suffrage and the fight for equal rights in general.  In March of 1875, in the Case of Virginia Minor v. Happersett, the Supreme Court ruled for the 2nd time in 2 years that the 14th amendment did NOT protect a woman's right to vote. In March of 1888 Susan B Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Clara Barton, Julia Ward Howard, and others, organized the National Council of Women of the US.  In March of 1919, the League of Women Voters was formed.  In March of 1972 the ERA passed, but although it was supposed to be the 25th amendment, that never happened.  In March 1776, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, John Adams, with her hopes for the new country and its legal system after its independence was gained from Britain.    “I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable t...