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Women's Rights
S4E2: Femmes Fatales, Females Villains, and 'Nasty Women' Who Defy Hollywood Stereotypes
HbN Guest: Prof. Thomas Doherty & Prof. Maggie Hennefeld
About Our Guests:
Prof. Doherty is a cultural historian with a special interest in Hollywood cinema. He is a professor of American Studies at Brandeis University - who guest-participated in our program last year.
Prof. Hennefeld is a McKnight Presidential Fellow and Associate Professor of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
In the news: It's the Golden Age of the Creepy Woman
In this episode (Jan. 10, 2024):
- Are there, or were there, stereotypical roles for Hollywood actresses?
- What is pre-code Hollywood? We talk about Prof. Doherty's book Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934.
- Did actresses enjoy a wider spectrum of roles in Broadway or indie films than in Hollywood?
- How about women in European films?
- What are the different types of antagonist roles for women? Dark? Creepy? Nasty? Violent? Sexual? The ambitious seducer? Femme Fatale?
- What roles could women play in the early days of the film industry? We talk about Prof. Hennefeld's project Cinema's First Nasty Women, and her books Specters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes and Death by Laughter.
- Why do you think there is now a trend for Hollywood’s leading actresses to “flock” to “female characters with sinister vibes and dark secrets”? What’s so alluring about these roles?
- Are antagonist roles liberating for women?
- Why do we call them actresses and not actors?
- If you wanted our audience to remember just one point about “women in Hollywood”, what would it be?
S3E49: A Republican First Lady Who Supported Abortion! Stories of Powerful Unelected Women - From Martha Washington to Rosalynn Carter
HbN Guest: Dr. Kathrine Jellison
Author of, e.g.: Entitled to Power: Farm Women and Technology, 1913-1963; and It's Our Day: America's Love Affair with the White Wedding, 1945-2005.
About Our Guest: Dr. Jellison is a professor at Ohio University. She is a scholar of women's studies and devotes her research to various topics in this field, such as women's suffrage and America's First Lady Studies, including her focus on the unelected position of First Lady of the United States, particularly how the First Lady wields much influence on the public and policy, despite the lesser title to her husband.
In the news: Rosalynn Carter passed away on Nov. 19, 2023
In this episode (Dec. 13, 2023):
- Was Ms. Carter America's 49th First Lady? Or 50th? Or 41st?
- Was Martha Washington addressed as the First Lady?
- Who is America's first non-spouse First Lady?
- Who pays for the First Ladies' White House hostess-related expenses?
- For what was Ms. Carter criticized at her husband's presidential inaugural ball?
- Why was Ms. Carter criticized for her trip to South America?
- Why did Ms. Carter champion mental health care programs?
- What is Eleanor Roosevelt's greatest achievement as First Lady?
- Was Mary Todd Lincoln an asset or a liability for Pres. Lincoln?
- How did Dolly Madison change Washington, D.C.'s social culture?
- After Pres. Wilson suffered a massive stroke, who was assisting him in his presidential duties?
- What is the enduring legacy of Jacqueline Kennedy as First Lady?
- Are Democratic First Ladies more politically active than Republican First Ladies?
About the image: First Ladies Nancy Reagan, Ladybird Johnson, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rosalyn Carter, Betty Ford, and Barbara Bush sit together at the National Garden Gala, 'A Tribute to America's First Ladies. This picture was taken one week before the death of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. By Barbara Kinney on Wikimedia. (Public Domain).
S3E43: Spain's History of Women's Rights
HbN Guest: Dr. Marta del Moral
Author of, e.g.: Intercrossings between Spanish women's groups and their German, British and Portuguese counterparts (1914-1932)
About Our Guest: Dr. del Moral is a professor of gender equality at the Complutense University of Madrid. She directs the Research Group: Gender Relations in the Contemporary World: an interdisciplinary perspective from History, Geography and Law, where she has investigated women's participation in local governments.
She has received many awards and prizes for her research. And also obtained many teaching awards, including the Student's Union "You're Awesome Award" at the University of Bath, England.
Examples of Dr. del Moral's projects include:
- Gender, commitment and transgression in transnational and intergenerational spaces, 20th century.
- Gender, Commitment and Transgression in Spain, 1890-2016.
- Transitions, Social Movements and Democracy in the 20th century. Spain in comparative perspective.
- Gender in local policies.
In the news: Do you remember the Unwanted FIFA kiss back in August - when Mr. Luis Rubiales, the former president of the Spanish Football Federation, forced a kiss on Ms. Jenni Hermoso? Well, this week FIFA banned him from all football-related activities for three years.
In this episode (JNov. 3, 2023):
- How did women's conditions and rights in Spain from the 19th century to 1933 compare to other European countries?
- Were women deemed intellectually equal to men? And if so, were they given the same rights?
- When did Spanish women gain the right to vote and how did they effectively lose it?
- How did Franco's regime impact women's rights and conditions?
- What is (was) permiso marital?
- How were rapists treated in Spain?
- What was the punishment for a man who killed his adulterous wife?
- How did women's conditions and rights change after democracy returned to Spain starting in 1975?
- The Unwanted FIFA Kiss - how did this fit within Spanish women's long struggle for equal rights and Spain's "Macho Culture"? sed to the rapist to jail because they didn't want to ruin his life!
About the image: Caricature of Gracia y Justicia, the conservative magazine of political humor published in Spain during the Second Republic. It shows a group of feminist women breaking into an office to claim the right to divorce, even though they are single. The vignette is part of the campaign organized by Catholic right media and parties in order to avoid the legalization of divorce. The following dialogue is read in the text that accompanies the cartoon: —The divorce! ... the divorce! We want the [right to] divorce! —But how bad do your husbands treat you? —No, we are single. (Public Domain).
S3E21: Crime of Rape - Its Legal & Cultural History
HbN Guest: Prof. Diane Rosenfeld
Author of: The Bonobo Sisterhood: Revolution Through Female Alliance
About Our Guest: Prof. Rosenfeld is a scholar at Harvard Law School, where she teaches courses such as Gender Violence, Law and Social Justice; Theories of Sexual Coercion; and Title IX. She has also taught courses at Harvard College, including a seminar on Creating Cultures of Sexual Respect on Campus. Prior to teaching, she served as the first Senior Counsel in the Office on Violence Against Women at the United States Department of Justice and as an Executive Assistant Attorney General at the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
In the news: Danny Masterson, "That 70's Show" star, was found guilty of two counts of rape. And less than a month ago, a Manhattan jury, sitting in a civil trial, filed by Ms. E. Jean Carroll against Mr. Donald Trump, did not find Mr. Trump liable for rape, as Ms. Carroll has claimed for years.
In this episode (Jun. 2, 2023):
- How rape was originally a crime against trespass to property.
- How the crime of rape is defined from the perspective of men
- Definition and prosecution of rape in our different states
- Our culture: it is assumed that if a woman doesn't resist, then "she wants it"
- Rape victims are often asked: why didn't you scream?
- How to build a collective women's defense system
- Rape is the most underreported crime that we know
- only 2-4% of rape crimes are successfully prosecuted
- Victim blaming is endemic in our justice system, and prosecutors are skeptical to prosecute rape
- The unbelievable case in which the jury believed the rape victim, but refused to the rapist to jail because they didn't want to ruin his life!
S2E34: Iran's History of Hijab, Women's Rights & Marriage
HbN Guest: Dr. Janet Affary
Author of: Sexual Politics in Modern Iran
About Our Guest: Dr. Afary is a professor of Religious Studies at UC Santa Barbara, the Director of the Iranian Studies Initiative, and the Chair of Religion and Modernity. She is the author of many books, including Iranian Romance in the Digital Age: From Arranged Marriage to White Marriage (Sex, Family and Culture in the Middle East).
In the news: Murder of Ms. Mahsa Amini by Iran's regime for the alleged improper wearing of her hijab.
In this episode (Oct. 14, 2022):
- In pre-Islamic Persia, the hijab was a status symbol - the richer the woman the more she covered her body.
- Even in post-Islamic Iran, some classes of women were prevented from wearing the hijab due to their class, e.g., prostitutes
- In pre-Islamic Arabia, women did not wear the hijab
- How Reza Shah, the founder of the Pahlavi Dynasty, forced Iranian women to unveil
- Prior to cultural liberalization and women's education, most Iranian women got married before 13
- The Shah's White Revolution infuriated the clergy and conservative Iranians because advocated women's rights
- Iran's two cultures - religious and modern
- Sex in modern Iran - are there any virgins left in Iran?
S1E27: History of Sexual Harassment
HbN Guest: Dr. Carrie Baker
Author of: The Women's Movement Against Sexual Harassment
About Our Guest: Dr. Baker is a professor of the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College and the Chair of American Studies there. She is the co-founder and former co-director of the Five College Certificate in Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice. Dr. Baker received her Ph.D., J.D. and M.A. from Emory University, and her research focus is on women’s legal history, gender and public policy, and feminist activism. She is also the author of Sexual Harassment Law.
In the news: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo resigns after allegations of sexual harassment.
In this episode (Aug. 20, 2021):
- Sexual harassment is about power!
- 16% of sexual harassment victims are men.
- Sexual harassment is not limited to physical contact.
- Spring 1975, Ithaca, NY: the origin of the term "sexual harassment".
- 70% of sexual harassment victims never report it.
- 1986: first sexual harassment case at the Supreme Court.
- The #metoo movement.
- How Title VII didn't cover small businesses.
- Research shows that false reports of sexual harassment is no more common than false reports of anything else.
- Race and sexual harassment
Immigration
S3E22: Who can regulate immigration, states or D.C.?
HbN Guest: Prof. Deep Gulasekaram
Author of: The New Immigration Federalism
About Our Guest: Mr. Gulasekaram is a professor of Law at the Santa Clara University School of Law, where he teaches Constitutional Law and Immigration Law. He is the co-author of the leading immigration law casebook used in law schools Immigration & Citizenship: Process and Policy.
In the news: Governors of Virginia, West Virginia, and South Carolina sent their National Guard troops to Texas, to its border with Mexico. In addition, other GOP-led states of Mississippi, Iowa, Tennessee, Nebraska and Florida have also offered Texas help.
In this episode (Jun. 9, 2023):
- What does our Constitution say about immigration?
- What is immigration federalism?
- How in America's first century, the federal government was little involved in immigration.
- In Antebellum America, slavery dominated immigration politics.
- Until the Civil War, until the 14th Amendment, federal citizenship was not as important as state citizenship.
- How our immigration policies were based on racial quotas.
- California was the first state to enact an anti-immigrant law.
- Prior to 9/11, immigration law was bipartisan.
- Why 2012 was an important year for federal and state immigration policies.
- What if the federal government abdicates its responsibilities on immigration?
S2E24: Race, Immigration and An Ignored U.S. Census
HbN Guest: Mr. Daniel Okrent
Author of: Last Call, The Rise And Fall of Prohibition
About Our Guest: Mr. Okrent is the author of The Last Call, The Rise And Fall of Prohibition, which won the Albert J. Beveridge prize, awarded by the American Historical Association to the year's best book of American history, and was used as a major source for the PBS miniseries Prohibition, which was directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Mr. Okrent served as the first public editor of The New York Times, and he has also been the editor of prestigious publishing companies, as well as the Esquire Magazine, Life Magazine, and Time, among others. He also served on the board of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery for 12 years, including a four-year term as chairman, and remains a board member of the Skyscraper Museum and the Authors Guild.
In the news: controversy over the 2020 U.S. census continues in Congress. That controversy involved President Trump's interference in the census and lawsuits that went to the Supreme Court.
In this episode (Aug. 5, 2022):
- The 1910s was a big decade of major Constitutional amendments that profoundly changed American society.
- The 16th Amendment authorized income tax, which in turn enabled the 18th Amendment that prohibited alcohol.
- Millions of Catholic and Jewish immigrants poured into the US from 1900 to 1920.
- Most of these immigrants lived in big cities, and some were notoriously involved in the illegal sales of alcohol.
- Rural members of Congress, who were mostly dry, realized that a reapportionment of Congress based on the 1920 census would tilt Congress toward urban America.
- So, they decided to ignore the 1920 census, which was a gross violation of the US Constitution.
- However, prohibition did not represent the will of the majority.
- This story is a lesson of a determined minority can change American politics and society.
S1E29: Do Immigrants Commit More Crimes Than Native-born Americans?
HbN Guest: Prof. Jennifer Chacon
Author of: Immigration Law and Social Justice
About Our Guest: Prof. Chacon is coauthor of an upcoming book on the impact of shifting immigration policies on immigrant communities and organizations in Southern California. She is a professor of law at UC Berkeley and was an outside advisor to the Immigration Transition Team of President-Elect Barack Obama from November 2008 through January 2009.
In the news: The Cato Institute's published research states that crime rates for immigrants living in Texas illegally are lower than those of native-born Americans.
In this episode (Sept. 3, 2021):
- Chinese Exclusion Act of the 1880s labeled Chinese immigrants as criminals, sex workers, and drug users who were unable to assimilate.
- The Act was later applied to exclude eastern and southern Europeans, e.g., Catholics and Jews.
- The rising tide of eugenics - white northern European races.
- Pres. Teddy Roosevelt and the Dillingham Commission, which published its findings in 1911 (image shows its members).
- Mexicans: the criminalization of their illegal entry and felony of their re-entry.
- The data is consistent that immigrants conduct crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans.
- The "immigration paradox".
- What are "sanctuary cities"? Hint: it probably isn't what you thought.
- What are "secure communities"?
- America's border cities: what is it like to live in El Paso?
S1E15: Comparing Vietnam Refugees to Afghanistan Refugees
HbN Guest: Dr. Amanda Demmer
Author of: After Saigon’s Fall: Refugees and US-Vietnamese Relations, 1975-2000
About Our Guest: Dr. Demmer an assistant professor of history at Virginia Tech. Her research and teaching are focused on the boundaries between war and peace in American history.
In the news: America is leaving Afghanistan. So what happens to all the Afghans who helped American forces and efforts there?
In this episode (May 23, 2021):
- During WWII, the US was allied with Ho Chi Men.
- In Vietnam's Declaration of Independence, Ho Chi Men directly quotes the US Declaration of Independence.
- How the French left Vietnam.
- Dean Acheson: "Korea came along and saved us!"
- The US-Vietnam War was a total war for the Vietnamese.
- When the U.S. evacuated Vietnam in April 1975, about 130,000 Vietnamese evacuated along with US military personnel.
- Over time, more than one million Vietnamese refugees settled in America.
- Vietnamese refugees in US military bases.
- Comparing Kabul to Siagon.
Race & Our Criminal System
S1E39: Race & Our Criminal Justice System - Defunding the Police Movement
HbN Guest: Prof. Jocelyn Simonson
Author of: Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People are Dismantling Incarceration
About Our Guest: Professor Simonson writes and teaches about criminal law, criminal procedure, evidence, and social change at Brooklyn Law School. She explores ways in which the public participates in the criminal process and in the institutions of local governance that control policing and punishment.
In the news: Defunding the police fails in Minneapolis.
In this episode (Nov. 12, 2021):
- George Floyd's death and its aftermath - defund the police protests.
- "The people" in our criminal procedure.
- Militarization of America's criminal procedures.
- Does the increase in police militarization result in a decrease in crime rates?
- Institutional racism in America's criminal justice system.
- Our criminal courts.
- The communities that our police serve. What does community mean?
S1E11: How U.S. Presidents Respond to Racial Crimes
HbN Guest: Dr. Thomas Balcerski
Author of: Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King
About Our Guest: Dr. Balcerski is a professor of history at Eastern Connecticut State University, where he teaches classes on African American history as well as early American history and US presidents and first ladies.
In the news: On April 20th, the jury reached its verdict in the murder trial of the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. He was found guilty of all charges in the death of George Floyd, which happened on May 25, 2020.
In this episode (Apr. 30, 2021):
- The long history of violence against African Americans.
- The movie 12 Years a Slave
- President Ulysses Grant, the KKK smashed in the South.
- The 1877 Compromise and the end of Reconstruction.
- Pres. Eisenhower's response to Emmett Till's murder.
- Pres. Biden's response to George Zimmerman's murder of Trayvon Benjamin Martin.
- Pres. Bush's response to Rodney King's case.
- Pres. Clinton's response to OJ Simpson's case.
- Pres. Biden's unprecedented outspokenness regarding George Floyd's murder.