Broads You Should Know

Born without arms or legs, from her youngest days Sarah Biffin was not content to sit around bemoaning her difficulties - she got right to work! Sarah taught herself to sew, use scissors and write letters using her mouth! She was so skilled, in fact, that when a sideshow owner Emmanuel Dukes, discovers her abilities, he quickly convinces her to join up with his traveling sideshow and is able to ch...

This week, Sara brings us Mary Kenner! Coming from a family of inventors, Mary wasted no time and went to work on her own first invention at six years old. She invented throughout her life, and received her first US Patent in 1957 for the Sanitary Belt - a precursor to the sanitary napkin! To this day Mary still holds the record for the most US Patents awarded to an African American woman - FIVE!...

Therese Oneill, author of the awesome book Unbecoming a Lady: The Forgotten Shrews and Sluts That Shaped America , joins Sara to discuss a Broad we have long been wanting to cover - the incomparable Elizabeth Packard! When Elizabeth's Reverend jerk of a husband has her committed to an insane asylum, (for disagreeing with his preaching, nonetheless!) Elizabeth bided her time patiently, working with...

This week, guest Darren Callahan brings us the story of screenwriter Nancy Dowd! After graduating from Smith College, Nancy enrolls at UCLA determined to forge a career writing for film. Not only does she succeed, she ends up writing some of the most renowned films of the 70s and 80s, and even winning an Oscar for her first feature script COMING HOME, but while the original script was entirely her...

Another light went out of the world this week when we lost lost Joan Davis. "Ms. Davis" was Sara's High School History Teacher and was, arguably, THE BROAD THAT STARTED IT ALL! That's right, this podcast might never have come to being if it weren't for Ms. Davis. Teaching outside that standard curriculum and armed with Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present, Ms. Davis...

Heather Pringle, author of the upcoming book The Northwomen: Untold Stories From the Other Half of the Viking World , brings us the incredible story of Gudrid the Well-Traveled! Gudrid was born into the Viking world which worshipped the old Norse Gods and their ways, but she was also born into a modern family that had adopted the hip new religion of the age: Christianity. This gave young Gudrid a...

Simone Biles has made history once more with an incredible performance at the Olympics, breaking records left and right, wowing us (and the judges) with stunning combinations and flawless execution. The past 8 years, though, her work has gone beyond the gymnastics floor and Simone has become a beacon of hope for abuse survivors and an advocate for mental wellness and self-care. She has changed the...

Special guest Michael Slefinger tells us about gymnast Věra Čáslavská. Her meteoric rise to fame surprised the world, her talent was unmatched, and her charisma charmed the entire world, so why has nobody today even heard of her? Find out why in this week's episode of 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...

WELL WELL WELL...looks like Sara was wrong in her last Broad Opinion hot take, but in the the BEST WAY! Chloe Skye joins Sara for a NEW hot take, this time - on VP Kamala Harris being the new Democratic nominee and NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!  The excitement is palpable across so many demographics - the hope, and the belief that change is coming and we will have a WOMAN PRESIDENT elected...

Victoria C. Woodhull might be one of the most interesting women we've covered on the pod so far! Her story includes not one, but THREE rags-to-riches climbs, a flourishing career as a medium & clairvoyant, and she was the first woman to not only run for President of the United States, but she also the first woman to own a Wall Street Firm AND the first woman EVER to testify before Congress. As...

This week, Sara revisits the story of Shirley Chisholm, a civil rights leader, politician, and the first Black woman to run for President of the United States of America and first woman to run on the Democratic ticket!  Learn more about this incredible woman who ran her campaign "Unbought and Unbossed" also displayed a truly remarkable response, particularly by today's standards, when there was an...

In her new segment BROAD OPINIONS, Sara brings us her hot take on what the news media is calling "Biden's Disastrous Debate Performance", how we should feel about it, and what we should do about it with t-minus 4 months until the election. HINT: It's not the take you might think it'll be. PLUS! Sara brings compelling real-time data on the impact trump's time in office has had on the women of Texas...

Since the age of 10, when she receives her first bicycle, Dervla Murphy dreams of pedaling all the way to India, but her travel plans are put on hold when she becomes caretaker of her mother at just 14 years old. This doesn't stop Dervla from dreaming, though, and when she is released from her caretaker duties 16 years later, her trip to India becomes a reality. Even though it's the worst winter i...

This week, Sara sheds some light on The Invisible Battalion! While Ukrainian women have been defending their country on the front lines for decades, it wasn't until 2018 that they were actually allowed to serve in combat ranks, thanks, in large part, to a massive campaign known as "The Invisible Battalion," led by the NGO Institute of Gender Programs ( invisiblebattalion.org ). The women leading t...

Cornelia Sorabji dreamt long and hard about becoming a lawyer, even though in India in the late 1800's women were just barely allowed to go to University at all, and were NOT permitted to law school or the court system as a whole. Born into a progressive, education-minded family, though, Cornelia was not deterred by these archaic laws - instead she gathers supporters and chases her dreams all the...

Today, Colin A. Borden brings us the tale of Verity Lambert - the founding producer of Doctor Who!  As an aspiring young writer and director, Verity kept running into the glass ceiling, being told time and time again that there wasn't any more room for another woman. Verity kept at it, though, and when an accident on set means someone has to step in to keep the show together, Verity meets the chal...

The Broad, the Myth, the LEGEND! We all know her name, but do you actually know her story? To start with, did you know that wasn't really her name?! Joan was born into a war-torn France at a time when French hope was greatly diminished. How on earth does a thirteen-year-old farm girl travel across dangerous, disputed territory, win an audience with the Crown Prince of France, inspire the entire Fr...

This week Sara brings us one of her personal heroes and feminist icons, the incomparable and prolific - bell hooks! Growing up a segregated Kentucky, Gloria Jean Watkins witnessed firsthand the wake of destruction wreaked by what she would later dub the Imperialist-White-Supremacist-Capitalist-Patriarchy. She spent the rest of her life in a fight against it as a writer, teacher, scholar, intellect...

When Cnopus goes to invade Erythrae he calls on an oracle to provide some wartime guidance. This oracle advises he put a Priestess of Hecate from Thessaly in charge of his army. Chrysame is sent forth from Thessaly and she immediately sets to work devising one of the most epic strategies of 11th Century BCE using none other than her Hecate-given knowledge of animals and poisons. So epic, in fact,...

In 1908, when Winston Churchill shoots his mouth off about women during an election cycle the suffragists in town are not having it, and Mary Moloney puts on her boots, grabs her dinner bell and becomes Churchill's greatest nightmare: A silencer of his voice. Mary rings her bell for a whole week during by elections in Dundee Scotland, following Churchill wherever he goes, winning crowds over in dr...

Chloe joins Sara this week to talk about the laugh of the century: Why men can't figure out why a woman thinks bears are less dangerous than them and how deeply upset they are about it. They cover this latest viral TikTok, as well as the latest in women's rights in the US, the temptation of protest voting, Nikki Glaser's brilliant roast of Tom Brady, Challengers and the most recent, female-led Tru...

This week, Chloe Skye returns to bring us the story of Beate Gordon! When Beate's Ukrainian-born Jewish parents fled Russia in the 1920's, eventually landing in Japan, Beate fell in love with the Japanese people and culture, but WWII leaves Beate in the US, separated from her parents and unable to contact them. Beate uses her incredible ployglot skills to become a translator, eventually working he...

This week, Sara brings us the story of Kadambini Ganguly, the first woman to graduate college, first woman admitted to an Indian medical school and the first female medical doctor in India! Her work wasn't limited to medicine, either. A champion for women's and worker's rights, Kadambini's socio-political impact on India was undeniably incredible. — A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. B...

Mary Baker Eddy did not have things easy. As a young girl, she was plagued with fits and ill health and then later much family tragedy made life even harder to bear. Mary found much comfort, though, in the scriptures and her study of them and this love of the the Bible would lead to her becoming one of the only women in modern history to have formed a major religion: Christian Scientists! Learn mo...

When Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina showed up on the doorstep of Fyodor Dostoyevsky to serve as his stenographer, helping him complete his next deadline, she had no idea that that life was about to change big time. What follows is an unusual courtship and unexpected happiness for both of them, despite Dostovesky's significant challenges, physical, familial and otherwise. Their resulting marriage seems...