March 20, 2017 • 24 mins
Guess what? Awesome, history-making lesbians aren't limited to Ellen and Rachel Maddow. This episode covers famous lesbians you might not know about, but should and also asks if it's harder to be openly gay and female in the professional and public spheres.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff mom never told you?
From house Stop works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline, and today we
(00:20):
are going to talk about trailblazing lesbians. You should know exactly.
There are a lot of them who made a mark
on society. Yeah, and we're not just talking about although
she is awesome. I'm just talking about Ellen Yeah, or
Rosie Yeah, or Jeddie Foster or Cynthia Nixon. There are
other important women that you should know. Yeah, from a
very diverse range of careers and accomplishments and time periods. Um.
(00:46):
But before we get into our list, um uh, I
wanted to mention an article published in June this year,
two eleven in the Village Voice. UM that was written.
I think it was partially inspired by the fact that
um Out magazine, which publishes an annual Power fifty list
of influential gaze in the mainstream, included only eleven women. Yeah,
(01:11):
they've got to be more than that, and they're are
as well. Show but some of the people they include
are on our list as well, such as a niece Parker,
the Marith Houston, and Tammy Baldwin who's running for Senate. Um.
But they also mentioned Jodie Foster, Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice
Barbara Link and uh, Eileen Jakin is that right, the
(01:32):
producer of the L word? Yeah? Yeah, um, and it's
you know, and the L word is partially responsible for
this kind of cultural idea of power lesbians. Also sex
in the city. There was the episode where Charlotte, Um,
I was kind of trying to court this group of
like powerful man lesbians. She really liked their glasses and
(01:53):
their shoes, I remember that, and then they wouldn't let
her come on vacation with them because they found out
that she was not a lesbian. So um, the article
talks about how obviously there are you know a lot
of a very powerful and successful lesbians, but um, they
possibly because of their gender, have a harder time as
(02:15):
they being out as they climb the corporate ladder. There's
a quote from Salis Berry, who's the executive director of
out An Equal Workplace Advocates, who says, of women fortune
five hundred executives, quote, as people go up the corporate ladder,
they're scene is going into the closet. And there have
been a number of UM organizations, uh, like gay lesbian
(02:38):
organizations who are speaking to the Village Voice saying that
it can be hard for them to attract powerful lesbians
as you know, like fundraisers, donors, um to mixed events, right,
and it's also hard. Uh. It was noted that not
all lesbians want to bring in more people from their
(02:59):
own background elms and people similar to them, other lesbians,
because they don't want to be seen as like, I'm
just promoting people like me. I can't, you know, I
don't want to work with anyone else like me. So
it's you know, they're they're avoiding bringing in more lesbian executives.
And this is in contrast um. In this Village Voice article,
this is sort of a contrast to the network of successful,
(03:22):
powerful gay men who tend to network a lot more
among their community. Right. And Amy Lesser, the publisher and
editor in chief of Go Magazine, was quoted as saying
that not everybody wants to be labeled a power lesbian,
and even if they are out, a lot of them
to this day downplay that aspect of their lives. Yeah,
because like a lot of things we talked about on
(03:44):
the podcast. I'm sure you want to be seen as
more than just a successful woman or as a successful
quote unquote power lesbian. Yeah, you want to know, you know,
I I am capable of doing this job. I don't
It doesn't matter that I'm a woman, or I'm a lesbian,
or I'm a gay man or whoever. Right. Yeah, So
with that in mind, UM, we wanted to talk about
some trailblazing lesbians you may or may not have heard of, UM,
(04:07):
but also just radical women in general. A lot of
really cool things. Yeah. They they have contributed a lot.
There's M. S. Josephine Baker, who was born in eighteen
seventy three died in nineteen forty five. She was a
physician who organized the first child hygiene department under government
control in New York City and under her tenure, UM
she had the lowest infant death rate in any American
(04:30):
or European city during the nineteen ten I thought this
was interesting to UM. One of the things that she
did within uh that child Hygiene department was organized something
called the Little Mother's League, and it was to train
older siblings, particularly older daughters, to take care of their
infant siblings, which would allow mothers at the time to
(04:53):
leave the home and work if necessary without their children
suffering neglect. Right, she actually was the first woman. Speaking
of being a trailblazer, she was the first woman to
earn a doctorate in public health from the New York
University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College, which later changed its
name to New York University School of Medicine. And I
thought this was interesting. She was instrumental in identifying typhoid. Mary. Yeah,
(05:18):
the cook, Uh, what's her name, Mary Malone? Malon, Mary Malone,
a cook who had worked in several New York households
and who had unwittingly caused a small, small, small typhoid epidemic,
you know. And uh, first apparently ran in the Baker
family because her mother was among one of the first
graduates from Vassors. Indeed, yeah, she she comes from a
(05:42):
very educated family and uh, they encouraged her to pursue
an education. Yeah, but at the time, being um, a
female physician, especially a powerful female physician like she was,
was not very easy because she was one of the
only women, and she was also overseeing a staff largely
made up of men, and so she would actually wear
clothes designed to minimize her femininity, including man tailored suits
(06:08):
and shirts with stiff collars and ties, and she would
joke that her colleagues did not think of her as
a woman, and often even disparaged women physicians in conversation.
So maybe maybe a little downside on that they went
a little too far. Yeah, you're equal, so we're going
to tell you how much we don't like women. Um. Well,
moving on to Margaret Mead who lived nineteen o one
(06:29):
to nineteen seventy eight. She is a twenty century American
anthropologist and psychologist, and her big work UM was Coming
of Age in Samoa. She she traveled to Samoa and
lived with the people for a time and wrote this
big work about um, not only does their society, but
how they viewed sexuality too, which was, in her view,
(06:52):
a lot more liberal than people in the West viewed it.
And it is still the most widely read book in anthropology. Yeah,
I love Yeah. I almost was an anthropology major because
I sort of wanted to be an archaeologist because I
wanted to be Indiana Jones. But um, so, yeah, I'm
a fan Margaret Mead. But anyway, aside from that UH,
(07:13):
she actually presided over the passage of an American Association
for the Advancement of Science policy statement deploring discrimination against
gay and lesbian scientists. And although Margaret Mead was married,
she had quote significant sexual affairs with women. And we'll
see that actually in a number of these lesbians, especially
(07:33):
from the from this time period, where a lot of
them will be married, some will become get divorced later
on and then later come out. Um. But it's not
it's not all that uncommon to have been married for
a little while, especially especially for the time UM. And
this Margaret Mead is also from quite an educated family.
Her father, Edward Edward Sherwood Meade, was a professor at
(07:56):
the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce and the founder
of the University Pennsylvania's Evening School. And her mother, actually
Emily Fogg Meade, was a sociologist and early supporter of
women's rights. So she grew up in a very UH
and an household that was conducive to education and and
also first and she worked as the curator of ethnology
(08:18):
at the American Museum of Natural History, where she would
work for the remainder of her career, No Margaret go
Margaret Meade? And on would we go to? Audrey Lord, poet, essayist,
and novelist who lived from nineteen thirty four to nineteen
ninety two. Fun fact about Audrey Lord for her first
(08:39):
published poem appeared in seventeen magazine. I know I had
no idea. Well, I guess, I don't know how long
seventeen has been around, but I guess for a while. Yeah.
But she and she said that she would talk in poems,
like if someone asked her how she was feeling, she
would talk in poetry. And if she didn't find a
poem to recite that accurately portrayed how she felt, she
would just write around poetry. I wish I could do that.
(09:02):
She should have an entire podcast in I Am Big
Ben Tamater I I would not would keep it short.
What about Hiku? I could do hiku or Limerick? I
like it. Um, let's see. Yeah. She She got her
b a from Hunter College and Masters from Columbia, and
she served as a librarian in New York public schools
(09:23):
from nineteen sixty one through nineteen sixty eight, and during
that time. In nineteen sixty two, she married Edward Rawlins,
who she had two kids with, Elizabeth and Jonathan. And
then in nineteen sixty eight she publishes her first volume
of poems, The First Cities, and she became a writer
in residence at Tugalu College in Mississippi, where she meets
(09:44):
her partner, Francis Clayton and is subsequently divorced in nineteen
seventy and really around that time she becomes her Her
running takes on a more activist tone, right she became, Yeah,
she definitely became an activist on behalf of civil rights
for for Blacks, women, gay people. She wanted equality for everyone.
(10:06):
And she has a quote that I think is interesting
talking about Jesse Helms, she said, my sexuality as part
and parcel of who I am, and my poetry comes
from the intersection of me and my world. Jesse helms
objection to my work is not about obscenity or even
about sex. It is about revolution and change. Helms knows
that my writing is aimed at his destruction and the
destruction of every single thing he stands for. So she
(10:28):
definitely used her poetry as a platform absolutely and uh
In nineteen seventy two, her post recollection from a Land
where Other People Live was nominated for a National Book Award,
and today Audrey Lord's legacy lives on with the Audrey
Lord Project, which is um located in New York and
is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, two spirit, trans and gender
(10:51):
non conforming people of color center for community organizing. Yeah.
The the vision for the group, according to its website,
grew out of the express need for innovative and unified
community strategy strategies to address the multiple issues impacting these
communities now. Similar to Audrey Lord, who it kind of
takes a little while to um. She you know, she's
(11:12):
a librarian first for a while, and then publishes her
first book of poetry and things really start to take off.
Similar sort of progression for Susie Orman, the financial guru,
who was born in nineteen fifty one. I believe in
the Chicago South Side neighborhood and she worked, she earned
her BA in social work and then worked at the
(11:34):
Buttercup Bakery. I want to stay in California for seven
years and then becomes a Merrill Lynch account exact in
nineteen eighty and then by nineteen eighties seven she's founded
her own business, The Susie Ormond Financial Group. Yeah. She
rocketed to fame in the late nineties when her financial
guide books, including The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom and
(11:55):
The Courage to Be Rich. I look, okay, I have
the courage to be rich. I'm just not. Um, they
became bestsellers. So yeah, she got famous off of that.
And as we know, she she's been on the Oprah Show,
and I think she has her own show now on
own network. Yeah. And I think she has a show
maybe on QBC two. She's all over the place, um,
and her net worth now is bill Yeah. And she's
(12:19):
actually I think gotten some criticism for some people for
the fact that her financial advice has sort of a
spiritual event. But you know what, Okay, I read OH
Magazine because I love it, and and Susie Orman has
a column in there, like Dr Phil has a column,
and and mem A Oz has a column. Dr ros
And and Susie Warmon talks about finances and stuff. And
(12:40):
although I don't understand most of what she says, it's nice,
you know what. It makes it easier to swallow financial
advice when it's presented in a very um uh, comforting
tone instead of just like using all these technical terms.
I don't know if that makes me sound completely financially incompetent,
but she makes it easy to swallow. I guess she
(13:00):
makes it easy to be brave, to be rich something
like that. Um. Yeah, she came out publicly in the
New York Times magazine. Um, but few news outlets will
focus on her sexual orientation instead. A lot of times
the focus is on why it makes good financial sense
to get married, because there are a ton of tax
(13:21):
breaks that come with tying the knot um. And Orman
obviously can't reap those financial benefits because she is in
a same sex relationship, right and we you know, we
talked about that in our single podcast, and so none
of us can get access to these same financial benefits
unless we get married. So maybe that's why you know,
(13:42):
we should follow Susie's advice, since if we're single now,
we don't can't get those marriage benefits. We better be
saving everything that we can living wisely local prudence. Indeed,
another interesting figure I think is Mary Glasspool was born
in nineteen fifty four, and she was consecrated as the
Episcopal Old Churches first openly gay bishop female bishop. It
(14:04):
already ordained him gay male bishop she was the first
female bishop. She was ordained on May fifteen, two thousand
and ten, in the Los Angeles diocese. Um, and she
was only I believe and correct me listeners if I'm
wrong on this, but I believe she was the only
the second ordained female bishop in the l a diocese
is hundred and fourteen year history, so she was kind
(14:26):
of making double history at the time. And um, she
had been partnered to Becky Sander for two decades. And
obviously there was a lot of controversy that came up
with this. But the Episcopal Church was like, you know what,
you're in Glasspool rocks. Yeah. The Archbishop of Canterbury had
a had a major problem with this, and a lot
(14:48):
of people wanted the Episcopal Church to hold off because
they were all these arguments and splits happening within the church.
And they were like, yeah, and you know what, she's
she's a good person. Um. Bishop John Bruno of Los
Angeles called Glasspool, who was an ordained priest for twenty
eight years, a highly qualified and experienced cleric. She's not
afraid of conflict and is a reconciler. So obviously a
(15:10):
lot of people have a lot of Confidence Center, and
she cites as her role models Isabelle Carter Hayward, who
is a lesbian, feminist, theologian, teacher and priest in the
Episcopal Church. And Carol Anderson, who is the rector of
All Saints Church in Beverly Hills and one of the
first women to be ordained into the Episcopal priesthood. So
maybe she should look into the Episcopal Church. It was like,
(15:31):
there's some interesting women. Yeah, some interesting things. Glasspool said
that Carter, for me, represented the courage to break through barriers,
not without cost, in order to become fully the person
God is calling you to become. Uh and moving onward.
We have a niece, Parker, who you mentioned. She was
on them that out Magazine's Power fifty list. She was
(15:53):
born in nineteen fifty six and she is currently the
mayor of Houston and when she was elected in seven
to the Houston City Council, she became the city's first
openly gay elected official, and then she was she won
the mayoral seat in two thousand. Yeah. She is the
(16:14):
mother of three with her partner, and she's a former
software analyst, so she's she's kind of done at all. Um.
Her sexual orientation did not emerge as a campaign issue
before her mayoral election among four candidates, but it did
prompt attacks before the runoff um against a former city attorney.
A group of African American pastors criticized her supposed gay agenda,
(16:38):
and a conservative activists distributed flyers featuring her and her partner,
asking is this the image Houston wants to portray? But
in all actuality, not that many people cared. It's something
like eighteen percent of voters even really cared, which Houston,
Thank you, big city, big city living, big city. Um,
(16:59):
and I thought this was really funny. Um. After an
East Parker was elected as mayor of Houston, she joked
that she was very proud to have been elected the
first graduate of Rice University to be mayor of Houston's right, Yeah,
very good sense of humor. It. Um, there's Hillary Rosen
who also speaking of women who've done a little bit
(17:20):
of everything, Oh my gosh, I mean she If there
is one name on this list of folks that we've
been talking about Caroline who definitely fits the power lesbian mold,
it is Hillary Rosen. That this woman is so powerful. Yeah.
During the two thousand eight elections, She served as political
director and Washington editor at large for The Huffington's Post
(17:40):
and was a regular on air commentator for CNN. She
still does the political commentary over at CNN, and she
used to be the former She's the former chairman and
chief executive officer of the Recording Industry Assisition Association of America.
She was the one who helped get Napster crushed. She
crushed all the little Internet pop ups, you know, and
(18:03):
she actually, I think she actually came out later and
said that she sort of regretted not not that she
got Napster shut down, but that the effect that it
had on um downloading and and file sharing and whatever. Yeah. Um.
When because of that position with the Recording Industry Association
of America, she was regarded as one of the most
(18:23):
influential executives in the entertainment industry. And on top of this,
as if being uh, one of the most powerful people
in the entertainment business is not enough work, she's had
a twenty five year pro bono history of lobbying for
civil rights laws. Yeah, she's been lobbying for LGBT civil rights.
And she's responsible for a bunch of AIDS policy pro bono.
(18:46):
So oh, and she also helped found Rock the Vote
in addition to all of these other things. And now
she is the managing director of the public Affairs and
Communications practice of s k D Knickerbocker, which just sounds powerful,
but she's basically recognized as one of the most of
the savvayest and most powerful strategists in Washington, d C.
(19:09):
And and beyond. So, Hilary Rosen, I would like to
meet you, and do you have any free time? Ever,
I can't see how you do. Do you need a podcaster?
We could podcast for you something. Um. There's also Tammy Baldwin,
who um is the youngest lady, the youngest lady on
our list. Yeah, and someone who I had not I
(19:29):
am sad to say I had not heard of Tammy
Baldwin before. I hope that that doesn't shine poorly on me,
but I didn't know about her, even though she is
he first openly gay woman to serve in the House
of Representatives. Yeah, she's the co founder and co chair
of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, which has ninety members,
and she recently Representative Baldwin recently announced on October three
(19:52):
that she had raised seven thirty eight thousand dollars in
the third quarter towards her Senate race. Yeah, this is
for two thousand twelve, and it would be for she's
in Wisconsin. We should mention and if she wins that election,
she would become the first openly gay senator. And right
now she's only UM one of three openly a Congress members,
(20:14):
along with Barney Frank and Jared Polis. Yeah. And talking
about the Equality Caucus, which she started in two thousand eight,
she said that it's working towards the extension of equal rights,
the repeal of discriminatory laws, the elimination of hate motivated violence,
and the improved health and well being for all, regardless
of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. She's also
(20:36):
the lead sponsor, or was a lead sponsor, i should say,
of the Ending LGBT Health Disparities Act, which would be
the first comprehensive approach to confronting all areas of the
health care system where LGBT Americans face inequality and discrimination
that did not pass UM. And she was also the
lead sponsor of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act,
(20:57):
which would basically put the federal fromant on par with
a lot of Fortune five hundred companies that have extended
employee benefit programs to cover domestic partners of federal employees
to the same extent as those benefits cover spouses of
federal employees. Right, that's a big thing that these fortune companies.
I mean, it's it's half pretty much have have domestic
(21:19):
partner benefits now, as I should, and I want that
should be whole. It should be whole. Yeah, exactly. And
so she's fighting for the same thing in in government
for government employees. Absolutely, So I'm um, I'm excited to
see what happens in hopefully Tammy Baldwin once that since yeah,
it sounds like she's she's doing pretty well with the fundraising.
So that's it for our list obviously. Um, there are
(21:41):
so many other women that we could talk about, but
we just wanted to highlight this group I believe of eight,
our power eight power eight. Yeah, I'd like to hear
who inspires our listeners, like who are who are some
of the women who have inspired you and and people
whose careers you follow? Right? For instance, Um, from the
call I put out on Twitter, so one mentioned that
Van Buren, who opened. She's a lesbian who opened a
(22:03):
gay bar in Amsterdam, which was one of the first
in the world. So really yeah interesting yeah, um, so
keep the names coming. Um, email us any any trailblazing
lesbians of note that we can we can talk about
some more. I'd love to hear about it. Mom Stuff
at how stuff works dot com is our email address. Well,
(22:28):
I have an email here from Cassie in Australia and um.
She was writing us about the podcast from way back
when on women's magazines, and she writes, you said there
was a tip from Cosmo about using thongs to to
put your hair up with what Yes? Yeah, have you
(22:50):
run out of no scrunchees around? Go to your underwear drawer. Um,
she writes, Well, as an Aussie, I thought of thongs
as flip flops and I and then work out how
or why women would tie their hair up with shoes
until I realized you meant the underwear. I love that story.
It's fantastic. Okay, this is an email from m She said,
(23:14):
I wanted to thank you for your podcast on single Doom.
I just turned thirty in September and am a single
mother of an eight year old daughter. We live in
socially conservative Oklahoma, and I am originally from a small
town of about people. When I'm home visiting, the marriage
question always comes up. My favorite version of the question
is when is your family going to marry you off?
(23:35):
I often wonder if these inquisitors see the look of
horror on my face when I hear this. I did
nothing in life in order. I had my daughter at one,
graduated college ghost sooners at so maybe I will marry
by forty five or so. Living in the social constraints
of Oklahoma, I feel the social stigma of single doom often.
So your podcast really was a pick me up and
(23:55):
helped remind me that I am oh so European and
Oklahoma just needs to catch up. Absolutely indeed, m and
again if you have any emails to send our way,
mom Stuff at how stuff works dot com is the address,
and of course you can always head over to Facebook
and find us there and leave us a comment like
us all that good stuff. And you can follow us
on Twitter as well at mom Stuff Podcasts. And then finally,
(24:18):
during the week you can check out the blog It's
stuff Mom Never told You at how stuff works dot com.
Be sure to check out our new video podcast, Stuff
from the Future. Join How Stuff Work staff as we
explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The
How Stuff Works I Find app has a ride. Download
(24:40):
it today on iTunes. Brought to you by the reinvented
two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff mom never told you?
From house Stop works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline, and today we
(00:20):
are going to talk about trailblazing lesbians. You should know exactly.
There are a lot of them who made a mark
on society. Yeah, and we're not just talking about although
she is awesome. I'm just talking about Ellen Yeah, or
Rosie Yeah, or Jeddie Foster or Cynthia Nixon. There are
other important women that you should know. Yeah, from a
very diverse range of careers and accomplishments and time periods. Um.
(00:46):
But before we get into our list, um uh, I
wanted to mention an article published in June this year,
two eleven in the Village Voice. UM that was written.
I think it was partially inspired by the fact that
um Out magazine, which publishes an annual Power fifty list
of influential gaze in the mainstream, included only eleven women. Yeah,
(01:11):
they've got to be more than that, and they're are
as well. Show but some of the people they include
are on our list as well, such as a niece Parker,
the Marith Houston, and Tammy Baldwin who's running for Senate. Um.
But they also mentioned Jodie Foster, Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice
Barbara Link and uh, Eileen Jakin is that right, the
(01:32):
producer of the L word? Yeah? Yeah, um, and it's
you know, and the L word is partially responsible for
this kind of cultural idea of power lesbians. Also sex
in the city. There was the episode where Charlotte, Um,
I was kind of trying to court this group of
like powerful man lesbians. She really liked their glasses and
(01:53):
their shoes, I remember that, and then they wouldn't let
her come on vacation with them because they found out
that she was not a lesbian. So um, the article
talks about how obviously there are you know a lot
of a very powerful and successful lesbians, but um, they
possibly because of their gender, have a harder time as
(02:15):
they being out as they climb the corporate ladder. There's
a quote from Salis Berry, who's the executive director of
out An Equal Workplace Advocates, who says, of women fortune
five hundred executives, quote, as people go up the corporate ladder,
they're scene is going into the closet. And there have
been a number of UM organizations, uh, like gay lesbian
(02:38):
organizations who are speaking to the Village Voice saying that
it can be hard for them to attract powerful lesbians
as you know, like fundraisers, donors, um to mixed events, right,
and it's also hard. Uh. It was noted that not
all lesbians want to bring in more people from their
(02:59):
own background elms and people similar to them, other lesbians,
because they don't want to be seen as like, I'm
just promoting people like me. I can't, you know, I
don't want to work with anyone else like me. So
it's you know, they're they're avoiding bringing in more lesbian executives.
And this is in contrast um. In this Village Voice article,
this is sort of a contrast to the network of successful,
(03:22):
powerful gay men who tend to network a lot more
among their community. Right. And Amy Lesser, the publisher and
editor in chief of Go Magazine, was quoted as saying
that not everybody wants to be labeled a power lesbian,
and even if they are out, a lot of them
to this day downplay that aspect of their lives. Yeah,
because like a lot of things we talked about on
(03:44):
the podcast. I'm sure you want to be seen as
more than just a successful woman or as a successful
quote unquote power lesbian. Yeah, you want to know, you know,
I I am capable of doing this job. I don't
It doesn't matter that I'm a woman, or I'm a lesbian,
or I'm a gay man or whoever. Right. Yeah, So
with that in mind, UM, we wanted to talk about
some trailblazing lesbians you may or may not have heard of, UM,
(04:07):
but also just radical women in general. A lot of
really cool things. Yeah. They they have contributed a lot.
There's M. S. Josephine Baker, who was born in eighteen
seventy three died in nineteen forty five. She was a
physician who organized the first child hygiene department under government
control in New York City and under her tenure, UM
she had the lowest infant death rate in any American
(04:30):
or European city during the nineteen ten I thought this
was interesting to UM. One of the things that she
did within uh that child Hygiene department was organized something
called the Little Mother's League, and it was to train
older siblings, particularly older daughters, to take care of their
infant siblings, which would allow mothers at the time to
(04:53):
leave the home and work if necessary without their children
suffering neglect. Right, she actually was the first woman. Speaking
of being a trailblazer, she was the first woman to
earn a doctorate in public health from the New York
University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College, which later changed its
name to New York University School of Medicine. And I
thought this was interesting. She was instrumental in identifying typhoid. Mary. Yeah,
(05:18):
the cook, Uh, what's her name, Mary Malone? Malon, Mary Malone,
a cook who had worked in several New York households
and who had unwittingly caused a small, small, small typhoid epidemic,
you know. And uh, first apparently ran in the Baker
family because her mother was among one of the first
graduates from Vassors. Indeed, yeah, she she comes from a
(05:42):
very educated family and uh, they encouraged her to pursue
an education. Yeah, but at the time, being um, a
female physician, especially a powerful female physician like she was,
was not very easy because she was one of the
only women, and she was also overseeing a staff largely
made up of men, and so she would actually wear
clothes designed to minimize her femininity, including man tailored suits
(06:08):
and shirts with stiff collars and ties, and she would
joke that her colleagues did not think of her as
a woman, and often even disparaged women physicians in conversation.
So maybe maybe a little downside on that they went
a little too far. Yeah, you're equal, so we're going
to tell you how much we don't like women. Um. Well,
moving on to Margaret Mead who lived nineteen o one
(06:29):
to nineteen seventy eight. She is a twenty century American
anthropologist and psychologist, and her big work UM was Coming
of Age in Samoa. She she traveled to Samoa and
lived with the people for a time and wrote this
big work about um, not only does their society, but
how they viewed sexuality too, which was, in her view,
(06:52):
a lot more liberal than people in the West viewed it.
And it is still the most widely read book in anthropology. Yeah,
I love Yeah. I almost was an anthropology major because
I sort of wanted to be an archaeologist because I
wanted to be Indiana Jones. But um, so, yeah, I'm
a fan Margaret Mead. But anyway, aside from that UH,
(07:13):
she actually presided over the passage of an American Association
for the Advancement of Science policy statement deploring discrimination against
gay and lesbian scientists. And although Margaret Mead was married,
she had quote significant sexual affairs with women. And we'll
see that actually in a number of these lesbians, especially
(07:33):
from the from this time period, where a lot of
them will be married, some will become get divorced later
on and then later come out. Um. But it's not
it's not all that uncommon to have been married for
a little while, especially especially for the time UM. And
this Margaret Mead is also from quite an educated family.
Her father, Edward Edward Sherwood Meade, was a professor at
(07:56):
the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce and the founder
of the University Pennsylvania's Evening School. And her mother, actually
Emily Fogg Meade, was a sociologist and early supporter of
women's rights. So she grew up in a very UH
and an household that was conducive to education and and
also first and she worked as the curator of ethnology
(08:18):
at the American Museum of Natural History, where she would
work for the remainder of her career, No Margaret go
Margaret Meade? And on would we go to? Audrey Lord, poet, essayist,
and novelist who lived from nineteen thirty four to nineteen
ninety two. Fun fact about Audrey Lord for her first
(08:39):
published poem appeared in seventeen magazine. I know I had
no idea. Well, I guess, I don't know how long
seventeen has been around, but I guess for a while. Yeah.
But she and she said that she would talk in poems,
like if someone asked her how she was feeling, she
would talk in poetry. And if she didn't find a
poem to recite that accurately portrayed how she felt, she
would just write around poetry. I wish I could do that.
(09:02):
She should have an entire podcast in I Am Big
Ben Tamater I I would not would keep it short.
What about Hiku? I could do hiku or Limerick? I
like it. Um, let's see. Yeah. She She got her
b a from Hunter College and Masters from Columbia, and
she served as a librarian in New York public schools
(09:23):
from nineteen sixty one through nineteen sixty eight, and during
that time. In nineteen sixty two, she married Edward Rawlins,
who she had two kids with, Elizabeth and Jonathan. And
then in nineteen sixty eight she publishes her first volume
of poems, The First Cities, and she became a writer
in residence at Tugalu College in Mississippi, where she meets
(09:44):
her partner, Francis Clayton and is subsequently divorced in nineteen
seventy and really around that time she becomes her Her
running takes on a more activist tone, right she became, Yeah,
she definitely became an activist on behalf of civil rights
for for Blacks, women, gay people. She wanted equality for everyone.
(10:06):
And she has a quote that I think is interesting
talking about Jesse Helms, she said, my sexuality as part
and parcel of who I am, and my poetry comes
from the intersection of me and my world. Jesse helms
objection to my work is not about obscenity or even
about sex. It is about revolution and change. Helms knows
that my writing is aimed at his destruction and the
destruction of every single thing he stands for. So she
(10:28):
definitely used her poetry as a platform absolutely and uh
In nineteen seventy two, her post recollection from a Land
where Other People Live was nominated for a National Book Award,
and today Audrey Lord's legacy lives on with the Audrey
Lord Project, which is um located in New York and
is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, two spirit, trans and gender
(10:51):
non conforming people of color center for community organizing. Yeah.
The the vision for the group, according to its website,
grew out of the express need for innovative and unified
community strategy strategies to address the multiple issues impacting these
communities now. Similar to Audrey Lord, who it kind of
takes a little while to um. She you know, she's
(11:12):
a librarian first for a while, and then publishes her
first book of poetry and things really start to take off.
Similar sort of progression for Susie Orman, the financial guru,
who was born in nineteen fifty one. I believe in
the Chicago South Side neighborhood and she worked, she earned
her BA in social work and then worked at the
(11:34):
Buttercup Bakery. I want to stay in California for seven
years and then becomes a Merrill Lynch account exact in
nineteen eighty and then by nineteen eighties seven she's founded
her own business, The Susie Ormond Financial Group. Yeah. She
rocketed to fame in the late nineties when her financial
guide books, including The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom and
(11:55):
The Courage to Be Rich. I look, okay, I have
the courage to be rich. I'm just not. Um, they
became bestsellers. So yeah, she got famous off of that.
And as we know, she she's been on the Oprah Show,
and I think she has her own show now on
own network. Yeah. And I think she has a show
maybe on QBC two. She's all over the place, um,
and her net worth now is bill Yeah. And she's
(12:19):
actually I think gotten some criticism for some people for
the fact that her financial advice has sort of a
spiritual event. But you know what, Okay, I read OH
Magazine because I love it, and and Susie Orman has
a column in there, like Dr Phil has a column,
and and mem A Oz has a column. Dr ros
And and Susie Warmon talks about finances and stuff. And
(12:40):
although I don't understand most of what she says, it's nice,
you know what. It makes it easier to swallow financial
advice when it's presented in a very um uh, comforting
tone instead of just like using all these technical terms.
I don't know if that makes me sound completely financially incompetent,
but she makes it easy to swallow. I guess she
(13:00):
makes it easy to be brave, to be rich something
like that. Um. Yeah, she came out publicly in the
New York Times magazine. Um, but few news outlets will
focus on her sexual orientation instead. A lot of times
the focus is on why it makes good financial sense
to get married, because there are a ton of tax
(13:21):
breaks that come with tying the knot um. And Orman
obviously can't reap those financial benefits because she is in
a same sex relationship, right and we you know, we
talked about that in our single podcast, and so none
of us can get access to these same financial benefits
unless we get married. So maybe that's why you know,
(13:42):
we should follow Susie's advice, since if we're single now,
we don't can't get those marriage benefits. We better be
saving everything that we can living wisely local prudence. Indeed,
another interesting figure I think is Mary Glasspool was born
in nineteen fifty four, and she was consecrated as the
Episcopal Old Churches first openly gay bishop female bishop. It
(14:04):
already ordained him gay male bishop she was the first
female bishop. She was ordained on May fifteen, two thousand
and ten, in the Los Angeles diocese. Um, and she
was only I believe and correct me listeners if I'm
wrong on this, but I believe she was the only
the second ordained female bishop in the l a diocese
is hundred and fourteen year history, so she was kind
(14:26):
of making double history at the time. And um, she
had been partnered to Becky Sander for two decades. And
obviously there was a lot of controversy that came up
with this. But the Episcopal Church was like, you know what,
you're in Glasspool rocks. Yeah. The Archbishop of Canterbury had
a had a major problem with this, and a lot
(14:48):
of people wanted the Episcopal Church to hold off because
they were all these arguments and splits happening within the church.
And they were like, yeah, and you know what, she's
she's a good person. Um. Bishop John Bruno of Los
Angeles called Glasspool, who was an ordained priest for twenty
eight years, a highly qualified and experienced cleric. She's not
afraid of conflict and is a reconciler. So obviously a
(15:10):
lot of people have a lot of Confidence Center, and
she cites as her role models Isabelle Carter Hayward, who
is a lesbian, feminist, theologian, teacher and priest in the
Episcopal Church. And Carol Anderson, who is the rector of
All Saints Church in Beverly Hills and one of the
first women to be ordained into the Episcopal priesthood. So
maybe she should look into the Episcopal Church. It was like,
(15:31):
there's some interesting women. Yeah, some interesting things. Glasspool said
that Carter, for me, represented the courage to break through barriers,
not without cost, in order to become fully the person
God is calling you to become. Uh and moving onward.
We have a niece, Parker, who you mentioned. She was
on them that out Magazine's Power fifty list. She was
(15:53):
born in nineteen fifty six and she is currently the
mayor of Houston and when she was elected in seven
to the Houston City Council, she became the city's first
openly gay elected official, and then she was she won
the mayoral seat in two thousand. Yeah. She is the
(16:14):
mother of three with her partner, and she's a former
software analyst, so she's she's kind of done at all. Um.
Her sexual orientation did not emerge as a campaign issue
before her mayoral election among four candidates, but it did
prompt attacks before the runoff um against a former city attorney.
A group of African American pastors criticized her supposed gay agenda,
(16:38):
and a conservative activists distributed flyers featuring her and her partner,
asking is this the image Houston wants to portray? But
in all actuality, not that many people cared. It's something
like eighteen percent of voters even really cared, which Houston,
Thank you, big city, big city living, big city. Um,
(16:59):
and I thought this was really funny. Um. After an
East Parker was elected as mayor of Houston, she joked
that she was very proud to have been elected the
first graduate of Rice University to be mayor of Houston's right, Yeah,
very good sense of humor. It. Um, there's Hillary Rosen
who also speaking of women who've done a little bit
(17:20):
of everything, Oh my gosh, I mean she If there
is one name on this list of folks that we've
been talking about Caroline who definitely fits the power lesbian mold,
it is Hillary Rosen. That this woman is so powerful. Yeah.
During the two thousand eight elections, She served as political
director and Washington editor at large for The Huffington's Post
(17:40):
and was a regular on air commentator for CNN. She
still does the political commentary over at CNN, and she
used to be the former She's the former chairman and
chief executive officer of the Recording Industry Assisition Association of America.
She was the one who helped get Napster crushed. She
crushed all the little Internet pop ups, you know, and
(18:03):
she actually, I think she actually came out later and
said that she sort of regretted not not that she
got Napster shut down, but that the effect that it
had on um downloading and and file sharing and whatever. Yeah. Um.
When because of that position with the Recording Industry Association
of America, she was regarded as one of the most
(18:23):
influential executives in the entertainment industry. And on top of this,
as if being uh, one of the most powerful people
in the entertainment business is not enough work, she's had
a twenty five year pro bono history of lobbying for
civil rights laws. Yeah, she's been lobbying for LGBT civil rights.
And she's responsible for a bunch of AIDS policy pro bono.
(18:46):
So oh, and she also helped found Rock the Vote
in addition to all of these other things. And now
she is the managing director of the public Affairs and
Communications practice of s k D Knickerbocker, which just sounds powerful,
but she's basically recognized as one of the most of
the savvayest and most powerful strategists in Washington, d C.
(19:09):
And and beyond. So, Hilary Rosen, I would like to
meet you, and do you have any free time? Ever,
I can't see how you do. Do you need a podcaster?
We could podcast for you something. Um. There's also Tammy Baldwin,
who um is the youngest lady, the youngest lady on
our list. Yeah, and someone who I had not I
(19:29):
am sad to say I had not heard of Tammy
Baldwin before. I hope that that doesn't shine poorly on me,
but I didn't know about her, even though she is
he first openly gay woman to serve in the House
of Representatives. Yeah, she's the co founder and co chair
of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, which has ninety members,
and she recently Representative Baldwin recently announced on October three
(19:52):
that she had raised seven thirty eight thousand dollars in
the third quarter towards her Senate race. Yeah, this is
for two thousand twelve, and it would be for she's
in Wisconsin. We should mention and if she wins that election,
she would become the first openly gay senator. And right
now she's only UM one of three openly a Congress members,
(20:14):
along with Barney Frank and Jared Polis. Yeah. And talking
about the Equality Caucus, which she started in two thousand eight,
she said that it's working towards the extension of equal rights,
the repeal of discriminatory laws, the elimination of hate motivated violence,
and the improved health and well being for all, regardless
of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. She's also
(20:36):
the lead sponsor, or was a lead sponsor, i should say,
of the Ending LGBT Health Disparities Act, which would be
the first comprehensive approach to confronting all areas of the
health care system where LGBT Americans face inequality and discrimination
that did not pass UM. And she was also the
lead sponsor of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act,
(20:57):
which would basically put the federal fromant on par with
a lot of Fortune five hundred companies that have extended
employee benefit programs to cover domestic partners of federal employees
to the same extent as those benefits cover spouses of
federal employees. Right, that's a big thing that these fortune companies.
I mean, it's it's half pretty much have have domestic
(21:19):
partner benefits now, as I should, and I want that
should be whole. It should be whole. Yeah, exactly. And
so she's fighting for the same thing in in government
for government employees. Absolutely, So I'm um, I'm excited to
see what happens in hopefully Tammy Baldwin once that since yeah,
it sounds like she's she's doing pretty well with the fundraising.
So that's it for our list obviously. Um, there are
(21:41):
so many other women that we could talk about, but
we just wanted to highlight this group I believe of eight,
our power eight power eight. Yeah, I'd like to hear
who inspires our listeners, like who are who are some
of the women who have inspired you and and people
whose careers you follow? Right? For instance, Um, from the
call I put out on Twitter, so one mentioned that
Van Buren, who opened. She's a lesbian who opened a
(22:03):
gay bar in Amsterdam, which was one of the first
in the world. So really yeah interesting yeah, um, so
keep the names coming. Um, email us any any trailblazing
lesbians of note that we can we can talk about
some more. I'd love to hear about it. Mom Stuff
at how stuff works dot com is our email address. Well,
(22:28):
I have an email here from Cassie in Australia and um.
She was writing us about the podcast from way back
when on women's magazines, and she writes, you said there
was a tip from Cosmo about using thongs to to
put your hair up with what Yes? Yeah, have you
(22:50):
run out of no scrunchees around? Go to your underwear drawer. Um,
she writes, Well, as an Aussie, I thought of thongs
as flip flops and I and then work out how
or why women would tie their hair up with shoes
until I realized you meant the underwear. I love that story.
It's fantastic. Okay, this is an email from m She said,
(23:14):
I wanted to thank you for your podcast on single Doom.
I just turned thirty in September and am a single
mother of an eight year old daughter. We live in
socially conservative Oklahoma, and I am originally from a small
town of about people. When I'm home visiting, the marriage
question always comes up. My favorite version of the question
is when is your family going to marry you off?
(23:35):
I often wonder if these inquisitors see the look of
horror on my face when I hear this. I did
nothing in life in order. I had my daughter at one,
graduated college ghost sooners at so maybe I will marry
by forty five or so. Living in the social constraints
of Oklahoma, I feel the social stigma of single doom often.
So your podcast really was a pick me up and
(23:55):
helped remind me that I am oh so European and
Oklahoma just needs to catch up. Absolutely indeed, m and
again if you have any emails to send our way,
mom Stuff at how stuff works dot com is the address,
and of course you can always head over to Facebook
and find us there and leave us a comment like
us all that good stuff. And you can follow us
on Twitter as well at mom Stuff Podcasts. And then finally,
(24:18):
during the week you can check out the blog It's
stuff Mom Never told You at how stuff works dot com.
Be sure to check out our new video podcast, Stuff
from the Future. Join How Stuff Work staff as we
explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The
How Stuff Works I Find app has a ride. Download
(24:40):
it today on iTunes. Brought to you by the reinvented
two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you
Stuff Mom Never Told You News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Samantha McVey
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.