Why don’t women’s clothes have more pockets? Who are the female writers and artists my education forgot to include? How does a woman go about seizing control of her government? What was it like to be a female slave and how did the lucky ones escape? When did women get to put their own name on their credit cards? Is the life of a female spy as glamorous as Hollywood has led me to believe?
In short, what were the women doing all that time? I explore these and other questions in this thematic approach to women’s history.
I hope you’ve never had a hair day quite like that of Corinna, the mistress to whom the Roman poet Ovid wrote Amores, or The Loves. Corinna dyed her hair so hard, it all fell out. And of all the strange things, Ovid wrote a poem about it.
It’s possible that Corinna was not a real person or that this wasn’t a real incident. But the poem ranges from hair dye, to hair texture, to ancient Roman curling irons, and the proper treatment of hairdressers, so it is enlightening about Roman women and their hair anyway.
Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.
Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee.
Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.
Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.
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Surely I am not the only woman who has ever eyed the razor and the shaving cream and wondered “Why?”
Women have been questing for hairlessness at least since Egyptian times, and though the record is mostly silent on this question, there are occasional hints about why and when and how women through the ages did it (mostly painfully and sometimes lethally).
Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.
Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee.
Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.
Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.
Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
