Female He Created Them Podcast

In this episode, Mary and KT discuss The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World and Us by Yale ornithologist Richard Prum. Topics include what a capacity to appreciate beauty more diffuse among animal species means for human difference, how mate choice guides evolution and is an important aspect of co-creation, and how different humans are even on...

In this episode, Mary and KT discuss Sick Societies by the anthropologist Robert B. Edgerton. We discuss breaking away from the evolutionary lens that all practices which survive must be good and its traditional counterpart, that all practices that are old are good, particularly in the Church. We also look at the near-universal fact that practices that survive are typically most adaptive for men a...

In this episode, Mary and KT discuss Bronwen McShea’s Women of the Church : What Every Catholic Should Know. Topics include the fact that the human institutions that make up the Church have historically been a product of women’s labors and competence, and McShea’s own concern as to whether we look at Catholic women in history to prove a point about the ‘feminine genius’ or to understand them on th...

In this episode, KT and Mary are joined by Murieann Lynch at Load bearing assumptions to discuss her recent piece “ Why are so many Catholic feminists converts? ” We discuss why online Catholic feminism doesn’t work for Lynch (and us) as a cradle Catholic and discomfort with overemphasis in Catholic circles on motherhood as the ‘feminine genius.’ Other topics include consecrated virgins, the all-m...

In this episode, Mary and KT discuss two recent articles on whether or not it’s high-time we stopped venerating Maria Goretti as a patron of purity. Topics include a vote to honor Maria Goretti as a patron of courage for girls and women in situations of sexual danger who have no recourse to safety and understanding the virgin martyrs as those who died due to someone’s hatred of what God loves: wom...

In this episode, KT and Mary discuss In A Different Voice (1982) , the pioneering work of Carol Gilligan, who is credited as one of the originators of feminist psychology. The book examines the moral development of children and young adults, arguing that girls/women generally follow a distinct trajectory from that which had been put forward by Freud and others as the ‘standard’ (male) trajectory:...

We’re back! In this episode, Mary and KT discuss Leah Libresco Sargeant’s new(ish) book The Dignity of Dependence. Topics include reflections on whether the world is the wrong shape for women and a philosophical anthropology that is expansive enough for all people at all stages of life, irrespective of sex, age, temporary or permanent disability, sickness, left-handedness, etc. Plus some irrespons...

This episode is Mary and KT discussing all the books they've been meaning to read but haven't and deliberating on what to read next. References: Holy Feast and Holy Fast by Carolyn Walker Bynum Sick Societies by Robert Edgerton - Psmith review of the same Diagnosing Social Pathology by Frederik Neuhouser The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan The Dignity of Dependence by Leah Libresco Sargeant - O...

In this episode, Mary and KT discuss Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum , plus historical context about the industrial revolution and the emergence of Catholic Social Teaching. References: The Dignity of Society by Russell Hittinger Get full access to Female He Created Them at femalehecreatedthem.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Eileen Reuter and Dr. Matalyn Vennerstrom to discuss A. G. Sertillanges, OP's The Intellectual Life. Topics include a holistic, embodied approach to the intellectual life for, how mothers relate to time, can Sertillanges’ frame be applied to women,  seasons and the ebb and flow of the intellectual vocation, should we point out errors or politely ignore them? Ot...

In this episode, KT and Mary talk about the outcome of their Lenten resolutions and eventually get to the topic of the Easter Gospel readings. Topics: what do the Resurrection accounts say about women’s ecclesial vocation, the priesthood as spiritual motherhood, and the courage to be inadequate. References: He Leadeth Me by Walter Ciszek, SJ Called to Communion - Joseph Ratzinger A lot of things w...

In this episode, Mary and KT discuss " The Maturation of Mutual Submission " by Dr. Greg Bottaro. Topics include he feminine principle and human meaning, female subordination as cafeteria Catholicism, developments in what is available to us through reason requiring a rethinking of the faith/reason conclusions of theology, and whether women are participants in sex. (Apologies for the fact that KT i...

In this episode, Mary and KT discussed Abigail Favale's article " Rethinking Complementarity: From Stereotypes to Icons. " Topics include what are sex-predictive traits and the aggregate versus the particular, stereotypes based on the statistical extreme making the average woman/man feel like a misfit, accounting for virtue and acknowledging how men and women experience the world differently. Othe...

In this episode, Mary and KT are joined by Mary's husband Luke to discuss John Paul II's "Meditation on Givenness." Topics include what's up with phenomenology, questions about KT’s memory, the philosophical anthropology of gift, and whether there is a particular character to the man-woman dynamic outside of an exclusive relationship. Other references: Origen’s Revenge: The Greek and Hebrew Roots...

In this episode, KT and Mary discuss the beginning of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, the magnum opus of the mother of modern feminism. We're interested in her also because Beauvoir was raised Catholic. Topics include existentialism and whether one is born or has to become a woman, the invisible ways the built world is hostile to female bodies, and Beauvoir's take on why societal sexism goes...

In this episode, Mary and KT are joined by Margaux to discuss an article about Servant of God Maria Aristeia Ceccarelli and her experience of intimate partner violence . How ought the Church to tell the stories of women who were heroically holy, even in circumstances they shouldn't have been in? If we uphold someone as a saint so that the living can imitate them, what are the potential dangers of...

In this episode, Mary and KT discuss the Sisters of the Little Way audio documentary, Descent into Light . The discussion is more about the theory of what is abuse, why does it happen in Church-spaces, and what is a ‘culture of abuse.’ We also talk about spiritual abuse, abuse as the sin of power, and more. There are no descriptions of actual sexual abuse nor similar explicit content. Other refere...

In this episode, Mary and KT talk about Genesis 1-3 and the opening chapters of Luke. Topics include the alleged 'natural created order' upset by Eve's disobedience seen in light of the Annunciation, whether men are more fallen than women and women are more punished than men, the meaning of ‘dominion,' and whether women’s work has to be ‘flexible’ or whether accommodating women's childbearing is a...

In this episode, KT is joined by Rachael Killackey of Magdala Ministries. We discuss the sinful woman of Luke 7 and the woman caught in adultery of John 8, who to KT's surprise, is not necessarily Mary Magdalene. We also discuss Rachael's work with women healing from sexual sin and a lot of other biblical Marys. Other references: Gregory the Great's Homily 33 Five for Sorrow Ten for Joy by Rumer G...

In this episode, KT and Mary talk about lots of things, including the three munera of Christ, Abigail and David, whether women are natural mothers while men are natural priests, gang violence, and making peace through vulnerability as the image of God. Other references: Judith Episode Sheila Wray Gregoire “ Idolizing Virginity” by Rachael Gieger Killackey Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger The...

In this episode, KT is joined by her sister Grace (BA, Catholic University of America; MA in Theology, University of Notre Dame) to discuss Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Themes include how God thinks about women, why KT dislikes bridal imagery but how it might be thought of in an empowering way, and why we're so intent on being indispensable. Other references: Th...

This episode is a paper Mary wrote about the woman at the well in John 4. The main thrust of this mini-episode is that much ink has been spilled about what Christians should think about women. But perhaps we don't often enough ask ourselves what God thinks about women. The best way to find that out, of course, is to look at how God actually interacted with women while he was incarnate on earth. Ot...

In this episode, Mary and KT talk about the new commandment in John 13 and happy marriages (not those with the most children) as the preeminent evangelical tool of the Church. We also talk about how eros and agape are not in conflict, that suffering isn’t the end, and the works of charity for the poor as both constitutive of the Church’s identity and the lay vocation. Other references: Faith, Hope...

In this episode, Mary & KT discuss the Book of Judith. Apparently Judith might not be a real person (according to scripture scholars). If she’s a symbol, what does that mean about what God thinks about women? Also thoughts on women who prefigure Christ in the Old Testament and Judith's killer Holofernes-slaying outfit. Get full access to Female He Created Them at femalehecreatedthem.substack.com/s...

In this episode, KT and Mary discuss Mary’s paper “ A Better Homily on the Household Codes. ” Some features include thinking about the political context of early Christianity and why Paul might not have been that interested in toppling societal structures built on hierarchical marriage. Plus, Mary’s favorite marriage book: Deep Conversion, Deep Prayer by Thomas Dubay (Spoiler: it’s not a marriage...