Episode 28: Women's History Month & the Women that Inspired Us

March hits different when you know the backstory. We kick off with how Women’s History Month became official in the US, why it’s tied so closely to International Women’s Day, and why visibility is still a fight even when women make up half the population. Then we widen the lens beyond the usual names and talk about what it means to actually learn women’s history instead of just nodding at it.

We get into the women who influenced us most, starting with women in science and the way recognition can get messy. Rosalind Franklin’s work on DNA opens a bigger conversation about stolen credit, gatekeeping, and why women in STEM still need loud advocates and real allies. From there we jump to education and the Montessori method, plus what today’s test-driven schools miss when curiosity and critical thinking get sidelined.

The conversation also goes very real on women’s health and why basic reproductive education is still shockingly limited. We talk endometriosis awareness, the power of public voices speaking up, and why learning your own body should never be treated as taboo. Finally, we run through women changing culture right now, from women’s sports and fandom to podcasts, books, and self-help voices like Brené Brown, Glennon Doyle, and Emily Nagoski.

If you want Women’s History Month ideas, women in science stories, women’s sports inspiration, and a reading list that actually helps, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend, leave a review, and tell us who belongs on your personal list of women who changed your life?

Transcript

Rachael 0:34

Hey everyone, welcome to Girl Gang Podcast. My name's Rachel. And I'm Brandy, and we are your host for this episode. So it's women his Women's History Month. Congrats on being a woman. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Is it really? No.

Rachael 0:47

We're proud. It's already halfway through the month already, so when you're having fun and being a woman. But we've thought it would be fun to talk about maybe the history behind Women's History Month, kind of how it all started. And also talk about some of the women that we have looked up to over the years or um have made an impact in the world for us throughout the years. So Verandy, what's Women's History Month? What's it all about?

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Yeah, so Women's History Month, it's every March, uh, it is an international kind of celebration. Um, it was started, however, in the US um in March of 1987. So next year will be the 40th birthday. Okay. So it's not very old. Um so it was officially established by Congress. Um it used to be, so in 1980, President Jimmy Carter had a w National Women's History Week. And then in 87 they changed it to the whole month.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Um, and all of that, he got his inspiration for it from um California did local celebrations in the late 70s that inspired all of that. So again, still very fresh. Um it's timed very nicely with the International Women's Day, which is every March 8th. Um so that all kind of is encompassed in the same month. Some months are great. Um March is a great month to be a woman. Um and learn about, you know, successful women around the world um in the past, present. Um, and hopefully, you know, this inspires this month, you know, learning and educating people themselves. It inspires some uh women to become, you know, future impact on other people. You know, it's just a cycle. You know, the women that inspired us were inspired by other women and and so on, you know.

unknown 2:55

Yeah.

Rachael 2:56

And we don't always hear about them um front and center on a lot of things, or maybe in the past, maybe men took the credit for some things.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Don't get me started on that because there's so many women scientists that have only recently come to light on their contributions that were were stolen.

Rachael 3:14

Yeah, I was reading that book that you gave me, Her Story. Oh, yeah. It's um talks about kind of the 50 uh remarkable women that made history. Um, so I was skimming back through that today, looking through it all. Um but yeah, tell me about some of the people that you've followed or you kind of find inspiration from. I feel like being in like the sciences and being uh the academic of the group, your folks are different than my folks.

Rosalind Franklin And DNA Recognition

SPEAKER_01 3:42

I mean, to a degree. I mean, I've got my two main um female scientists that are gonna be a part of my science sleeve in the future. It's gonna be that's um, yeah, I'm super excited for that tattoo. Not excited for the bill, which is why I haven't gotten it yet. Um, so kind of going off of you know stolen credit in the science world, um, I'm gonna start off with my girl Rosalind Franklin. Okay. Who tell us about her? She was working in, so everyone here is of Watson and Crick were the ones that founded or to have credit of finding the double helix for DNA. And while they did contribute to finding it, there were like three or four labs that actually contributed to this discovery. However, um, so Watson and Crick were in a lab, she was in her own lab, and there was a third lab, and they're all at different universities studying the same thing, and it was can kind of became a race on who could do it first. Okay, so they knew about it. Yeah. Um, there was some sketchy like stealing of ideas, like they'd go to these conferences and they'd hear people speak and then they'd take those ideas, which is I mean, that's how science works. However, there was this big unknown with DNA, and they were all racing to get to that point because it was a pretty groundbreaking um discovery, you know, the building flock of human life, other than cells. Um so she actually figured out what the double helix was. However, there was a some bribing and manipulation on whose um findings were reported in the magaz um the cap magazines, the newspapers, the publications of the time. And it got to the point where Watson and Crick and the uh the third lab, which was run by a man, those three got credit for the Nobel Prize and she was excluded, even though she found the double helix. And then they kind of built upon that. She was excluded because I actually found this out in a recent book. I didn't know this. Only three people can be nominated for a Nobel Prize in a given year. So if there's a group of five people that contributed to this idea, the council has to decide which of those three had the most influence on that discovery. And she didn't have the biggest influence. Well, she was a woman back then. Yeah, you know. She was probably I mean, at that time she was lucky to have a PhD and be in a university lab, unfortunately. So so yeah, that's she's like my big one. Um, you know, learning about her and Marie Curie um really got me into the science and when did you first learn about them?

Rachael 6:42

Like when when you were young?

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Um Rosalind Franklin was a high school discovery. And I mean Marie Curie, I feel like just about everyone knows. Like her and her husband um did all of the um they discovered uranium and all of that, which is how she died with all the radioactive activity that they were around. Like she died from radioactive poisoning of her body, so um, so I feel like she's like a a a well-known one. Um, but she wasn't really like pushed to the side for her ideas and it not to, you know, I I'm not a man hater or anything, but I think a lot of reason she got the credibility she did is because she did all of her experiments with her husband.

Rachael 7:28

Probably.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

So you know, so having having a man on that paper back then, you know, probably helped.

Rachael 7:35

And I mean a lot of the women who were able to make breakthroughs is because the men took chances on them and you know tried to get them publicly seen and talk about it and stuff like that. So we love our fellow men.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yeah. I mean you have to have you have to have allies to even, you know, you have to have the men understanding that women are fully capable of this to even get them in that space. They're definitely they definitely had their uh their allies, but there was definitely a lot more obstacles back then than there are now. So I do respect them for that. So I'd say those two had a pretty um positive influence. And then, you know, there's the space side of things. So I used to want to be an astronomer. Um and I feel like at like Sally Ride kind of got me into a lot of this that kind of stuff.

Rachael 8:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Um I didn't want to be an astronaut because you had to have like military experience and you know, all that kind of thing, and it was just a lot of work. Though it'd be cool. Like if I ever win the lottery and have millions, I would probably pay to go up and come back down, like Katy Perry. Yeah. Which she's not on my list. She's not on the list.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Why not? She didn't write the cut.

Beyond The Usual History Names

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Um, so yeah, I mean there's I mean, there's a lot of good women in history. You just gotta read and learn about them.

Montessori Education And Rethinking School

Rachael 8:58

Yeah, I mean, I felt a little intimidated by this topic because I was like, oh, I think of like the basics, you know, everybody that we hear about, you know, Amelia Bernhardt or Earhart, whatever. Earhart, Earhart, um, you know, Harriet Tubman, Anne Frank, all these things. And so I wanted to go more off-the-beaten path and kind of research some other women. One that really stood out to me was uh Maria Montessori. And she was the one who came up with the Montessori method and um basically learned that children could succeed if they weren't so boxed in and pushed aside, basically, like they they should be treated just like normal humans and given the freedom to kind of do what they want, and um which that kind of led me down a path of like, oh well, I didn't know so much history about her, and I know that my sister used to work in Montessori schools, and my sister's a social worker, and I feel like my sister is very compassionate in a way that I don't feel like a lot of women always are.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Yeah, I see that.

Rachael 10:16

She's just if you've been around her, you can just talk to her, and I mean she's definitely like a no bullshit kind of person. She'll definitely tell you how it is and like has opinions about things, but when you go to her and just need to vent, she just kind of soaks it all in and she asks you really good questions and she doesn't judge. Yeah. And I I mean she probably does judge, but in that moment, you know, like yes. Um, so I feel like I resonated with kind of the Montessori side of things because um and it does stem from kids, like kids learn from my grandma was a Montessori teacher.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Really? She actually really tried to get my parents to do that for me. And they said no. Um, I mean it's expensive. Yeah. And my dad went to Montessori school. Okay. And he felt when he finally went to a regular public school, he was a little behind. Okay. On certain things that, you know, they the kids that went like started in kindergarten public school or even like a traditional private school learned certain things and he was he was catching up on that. Got it. Um but I mean it was still highly praised in our house and my stepsister did some Montessori teaching as well.

Rachael 11:34

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Um but yeah, I mean I think it's a um a great al alternative um, especially at the early ages, because they do a lot of um like fun mother skill work and stuff too. Like I had me and my grandma was a Montessori teacher, so like I had Montessori toys and games and you know they're very different from you know, some of the other toys that you have. They make you think, yeah, and you know, kind of learn and understand how your your body moves and things like that. Because there are a lot of like put the square in the square hole and you know, or you know, match these two things together. So it made your brain think.

Rachael 12:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Um and honestly, I think schools would benefit from doing a hybrid approach. Like, yeah, there's certain things you need to learn, but schools are so centered around test scores now because that's how they get their funding that it's really kind of made students like I feel like each generation it gets worse where they're not learning the necessary skills, political thinking skills. Oh yeah, we have we have a whole episode. Jenzi's fucked.

Rachael 12:43

Right. Another one, I mean, I've always loved Jane Goodall throughout the years. Oh yes. I was so sad when she passed.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

I know. Too soon. She just seems like a gentle soul, like yeah.

Rachael 12:56

Um I I don't know, I think that she was just very kind and honest and you know people to like think differently.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Yeah. I I mean she lived with gorillas. I mean, that's crazy.

unknown 13:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Um kind of along those lines of more of like a conservation scientist stuff. I also had, even though she's like our age, I feel like as we've gotten older, she's you know, brought some things to light on women's health and technical conservation, which is Bendy Irwin. Steve Irwin's daughter.

Rachael 13:31

Oh yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Okay. Um she's had um I I think she has endometriosis and a couple of other like reproductive issues and stuff, and she's really come forward um when she's trying to have her daughter of like the struggles and just speaking out about women's health and things like that. Um, which is she's used her platform not only to promote the wildlife like her dad.

Rachael 13:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Um, but but you know, she's also kind of stepped in and just as a woman in general. Lily Reinhardt's going through that right now. I don't know if you follow her.

Women’s Health Education And Endometriosis

Rachael 14:05

Uh she's the one uh she played. The name sounds familiar. She played um Betty on uh shit. What is the name of that um TV show? It's with Archie and Archer? It's not Archer. Oh, I was like, oh, I gotta Google this because now it's gonna bother me. Um she dates Jughead. Lily Reinhardt. Yeah, that's his nickname in the show. Lily Reinhardt. Oh, Riverdale. Riverdale. That's it. That's it. Okay, yeah. She plays her in that, and then she plays in this movie that I like a lot. I think it's called Look Both Ways, where one scenario is she gets pregnant in college. Oh, and then the other situations that she doesn't. She's also like hustlers. Oh, yeah. Okay, okay, yeah, yeah. That's where I know her. But I've also seen the movie that other movie.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah.

Rachael 15:06

So she's been talking about that a lot on her Instagram lately, which she's had to go through like a whole slew of doctors to figure out what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Listen, women's reproductive health is not taught to women, and it's especially not taught to men. Do you know how many men don't know that women have three holes down there?

Rachael 15:28

Right. I know. And they're like, it's just like it's all comes from the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

That's basically what the conversation is. I'm just like, I've had a guy ask if I had to take a tampon out to pee. Yeah. And I'm just like, here's here's a biology textbook. But yeah, I've you know, I mean, anyone that can come to, you know, just educate people men and women, because we don't get talked about. It doesn't get talked about or taught enough in high school health or any of that, because it's like taboo. We don't talk about that stuff because it'll lead to teenagers having sex even though they already do that. Maybe if they understood all of it, they would probably take better care of it.

Rachael 16:15

Like, don't show them pictures of like all the disgusting STDs, is what what they called it in high school for us. They're like, look at this, this will happen if you have sex. Just like a birthing. Oh god.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Birthing video.

Rachael 16:26

I pushed that way out of my memory until you just said it, and now I have a clear visual.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Hey, now that that's probably a good scare tactic, but at the same time, like it didn't stop. It only scares certain people like myself. And it wasn't even the act of having the baby, it was just being pregnant in general that scared me. But you know, yeah, I feel like anyone that comes out and educates people on on women's health is an ape lesson in my book. Yeah.

Rachael 16:57

Another woman, so um Rachel Carson, she's the one who like talks about how the chemicals are really bad and um by spraying all the chemicals in the environment, we're gonna end up all dying. I don't know much about her, but she's one that I want to look into more because she's kind of classified as like the one of the peeps. It seems like you have an opinion about her.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Yeah, I'm not gonna share it. You can look into her. I'll let you know. I'll look into her, yeah. We also but you and I also have a lot of differing opinions on that kind of stuff in general.

unknown 17:33

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

So I love the environment. Well, not say no chemicals.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

You're just a more holistic person. Yeah. I'm more of a scientific medicine person. Yeah.

Rachael 17:44

Yeah. And I love you and I support you regardless of it.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

No, that's why I didn't say anything. I'm gonna let you form your own opinion about her. Yeah.

Rachael 17:52

And I feel like I uh looked up to Coco Chanel as well. Okay. But there's been like different childhoods. Not not so much honestly, not as a child, like within the past couple of years. Um, it kind of stemmed from like a quote. I have a quote by her. Um, a woman should be two things. Um, she does what she wants and I'm I think it's on my wall. What does that pink sign say?

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Um girl should be two things, who and what she wants.

Rachael 18:27

Yeah, so then I was like, oh, that resonates. I like that. Yeah, so then I did more research and you know, she was all about luxury should be comfortable, and I'm like, I get behind that. Um, but I haven't seen that new movie that they kind of made about there's something that came out and like maybe she was tied with the Nazis and all that good stuff. Yeah. So then I'm like, oh Coco, do I have to like think about you differently? And then I'm also thinking like a lot of these women that have made a difference in the world were also brutal in a lot of ways because they had to like make hard decisions. Oh yeah. And so you really have to I mean, some people could be like, that's a terrible person, versus other people are like, but she did great things for like this type of thing. Um, so it's always interesting, like even the women that you look up to might not always be a hundred percent who you thought they were.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

I feel like that's a famous person. Yeah.

Rachael 19:21

There's always another side. There's always another side to it. Um didn't you mention that you were you followed a pretty hardcore athlete growing up too?

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Oh, I mean, yeah, I've got I have a couple athletes that I um I'd say biggest one as far as like a younger person looking up to, I was obsessed, like obsessed with Mia Ham. Um she that was around the time that like women's soccer was like we actually had a professional league, which it's coming like it's starting up again. Um, but late 90s, early 2000s, they were big. They were winning like all the Olympic Games and all that. They were just dominating um Brandy Chastain too, which she's the famous one. When they won, she had her jersey up and was running around with it over her head and her sports bra. I don't know if yeah, yeah. She also spells her name correctly than I I wasn't named after her because she's not that much older than us, but um, that got me really into soccer and like like I said, obsessed. I named my first cat after Mia Han. Yes. Um so yeah, she was a big influence. Obviously, I didn't stick with soccer, I ended up switching, um, but less to do with the sport and more to do with a bad coach and kind of bad taste in my mouth, so to speak. Um but yeah, she got me like into sports and just being you know, kind of a an underappreciate first of all, soccer's underappreciated in the US to begin with, and then for it to be a women's sports. Um so ever since her um and I feel like women's sports has also kind of gotten in the last like five or so years have really gotten revitalized.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Um way more opportunities now. Yeah, I mean for younger girls. There's a professional women's hockey league now, it's not very big, but it's growing. Uh women the WNBA has blown up because of Caitlin Clark. Um, you know, so you gotta respect her. And I also um read this article the other day where women are getting into sports in general within since basically COVID. Um and they're like half of the NFL's viewership and fans are women now.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

And you know, I think that's there's something to be said there. And when women get ups obsessed with something, like they go hard, like they buy the tickets, the merch, they you know, all this stuff. So I think they're pretty dedicated, yeah, comparatively, like yeah, and we don't bitch about it when our I mean, I bitch a little bit with my team voices, but not like the men. Okay, it's not like a world ending thing. Um, but you know, it's that's also come about, and I think those strong female athletes. Um, there's like Hillary Knight from the women's Olympic team, and even the women figure skaters, like they get a really big highlight in the Olympics and things like that. Um there's a a new bar. I need to see if it's open. It's supposed to be opening in the very near future if it's not, but in St. Louis was one of the cities that got the women's sports bar called sports bra. Oh. We were one of like four cities that I guess had to get the the right demographic for it. So I really want to go there sometime and check it out because I thought it was a really cool idea. And the name's funny.

Rachael 22:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

So um it's just a sports bar.

unknown 22:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

But they call it sports bra. They just switched the A and the R.

unknown 22:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

Love it. Um but they only show women sports.

Rachael 23:01

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Nice. Yeah. That's cool. So like if a WNBA game's on or call it like March Madness is getting ready to start. So they'll be showing the women's N CAA tournament as opposed to the men's and and things like that. So I thought that was pretty cool.

Kylie Kelsey And Modern Role Models

Rachael 23:19

Nice.

Call Her Daddy And Women In Media

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Um but yeah um also kind of tied to the sports world someone that's really been um someone I've I think she's our age exactly or maybe you're older than us which I found that out like last week and it kind of shook me because she just uh Kylie Kelsey in her podcast and everything. I was gonna say she like she's very and she's like 34 and for some reason I thought she was like older than us. Because she's so wise. Wise beyond three years. Yeah I don't know maybe it's just because she seems like she has her own shit together that she seemed older than us and I feel like she's done a good job of like calling thick situations out and it's like that's fucked up like yeah she doesn't give a fuck. Yeah. She's I also just love that she met Jason Kelsey on a dating app like before he got like huge. I know and she's handled fame like so well. Yeah and you know I mean she's granted the whole Kelsey family is kind of writing the coattails of this popularity that they've gotten but I feel like they're like the best family to do it. Like yeah they're very they seem genuine they seem nice like their mom Jason and Travis Kelsey's mom was on the traitors that reality show oh my gosh she was so funny she was just she was just like I'm just starstruck with all these celebrities but she was considered a celebrity but she's like I'm just a normal person. She's like I just raised two athletes like that's all I did no baby you know where all these other ones are like these massive like reality TV stars and everything she's like I just love all of you I've watched all of your shows but they're all like no you created two like NFL Hall of Famers and all of a sudden but she doesn't see herself as a celebrity. So so yeah I love the Kelsey family and Kylie's um podcast is hilarious. I love her stuff. You f do you follow you follow Alex Cooper right? Call her daddy?

Rachael 25:20

Yeah yeah fuck yeah I feel like she's I mean when I think like a woman who will put it out there and talk about anything I feel like she was kind of like the breakthrough woman for us.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Yeah for so I don't know if you know this but she was part of Barstool originally. Yeah. And then Spotify I think is the one who gave her like a million plus to do her podcast every year because she was just owning it in the podcast world. Like she was like yeah I'd say she was probably a a founding mother of women in podcasts because it was very it's I mean to this day it's still very male dominated. Um but yeah her and she she brings in some big guests yeah too. Like she just had Sarah Jane Mass on there about and she that's when she released her her release dates. I mean you've got an entire world watching that episode because they knew yeah what was coming. Yeah and she talks I mean she talks about the hard hitting stuff too with them. Like she had Hillary Duff on a couple weeks ago and she's talking about like being sexualized as a kid and divorce and you know all the nitty gritty but in a really understanding and like thoughtful way. Like I think she's a really good interviewer. So like even if podcasts fell off like off and people didn't listen to him as much she could still do something.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

But let's talk about the real founding mother of like vlogging and podcasts, Jenna Marbles. Do you remember her? I don't know. She had all the YouTube videos and she Oh I'm gonna have to show you some of her Yeah you're gonna have to show me. Yeah doesn't ring a bell at all. Really? Oh she was so big. Um yeah she just got like bullied out of it and she was just finally like I'm done like this isn't making me happy what the hell yeah hmm. Okay off the original she's the OG. The OG. Yeah most of our listen most of our millennial listeners will know who she is.

Rachael 27:31

Okay. I had always looked up to Emma Watson okay because she's her mini. Like you know we grew up with her. Yeah but I feel like I really started to love her when I listened to her podcast episode with Jay Shetty a while back because she just got very real and she had never done a podcast interview before.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Yeah and she's really stepped away from she's like taking her Harry Potter money and like stepped away from yeah acting.

Rachael 28:00

Um but I feel like Hermione growing up was somebody that we all looked up to.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Yes I just I had the oh best Halloween costume ever. That's when I had my perm and everything I looked just like her and of course that was the camera roll my dad double exposed. So all those photos were um sad day. Yeah like he drew the Hogwarts emblem and found an old graduation gown and sewed it on to my gosh it was such a good costume. Yeah to this but she was so smart yeah and like definitely got Harry would have died multiple times if it weren't for her listen they should have all been named Rainy Granger and not Harry Potter and I stand by that. Yes um because Ron and Harry would have died that first uh first book if they hadn't finally become friends with her. If they were dicks to her at the beginning she shouldn't have ended up with Ron spoiler alert um I'm still pissed about that because she could have done so much better.

Rachael 29:09

This is true this is true. Yeah but I feel like the woman that she is now she is going back to school and just trying to be kind of a normal human now and I feel like that really and I think that I resonated with what she was saying a lot of she was saying that marriage is um like we should all strive to I'm gonna butcher it but basically getting married is like a very big deal and not everybody is ready for marriage and not everybody deserves to get married like is ready for that commitment and so um that's why she's never gotten married. She's like no you know I've never had the privilege of like meeting that person that would like level me up and you know make a better life and everything. I was like good for you girl like you just have to do your thing. She also wrote um a screenplay about her life about how like she internalizes herself as Emma Watson and like how it really helps like it she doesn't really know how to act between like who she is versus like the reality version you know the star version of her. Oh yeah and like how she's like grieved through that and stuff. So it was like a one person screenplay that she did interest as like a grieving um mechanism. And then she finally shared it with like her friends and her family and she was just like create art because it's a healing mechanism and I'm like yes create art get it out there.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Yeah no I I feel like there's a lot of child athletes that have been athletes uh actors that have been well they're typecasted to begin with like you look at Emma and yeah she's done like Beauty and the beast and stuff but everyone knows her as Hermione. I and I would even say Belle is very similar to a degree to Hermione as a character.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

Um so there's a you know once you're kind of typecasted as a kid it's really hard to one have that kind of money that kind of exposure and spotlight on you. Because I I think she's handled it much better than you know like some of the singers and things like that. Um like Brittany and Amanda and all those that still aren't doing well. Um you know Brittany just got arrested like a week ago right you are yeah so it's just nice to see that there are you know certain I mean I gotta put her with like Hillary Duff. Like they were huge huge celebrities and stuff and then they took a step back and worked on themselves. And whereas Hillary's coming back out I feel like Emma is you know just still focusing on herself and her passion projects. Which is good for her. I mean if I had that kind of money as a kid you probably wouldn't ever see me again. Yeah. I'd be on a yacht in the middle of the ocean so like just doing my own thing.

Rachael 32:20

Yeah.

Books That Shaped Us As Women

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Um to the fact that she's improving herself and trying to be a normal person.

Rachael 32:24

Kudos to her okay you know who was probably the biggest influence for me in my teenage years. Oh okay Sarah Desin. She's an author. Yeah I read some of her books. They're so cheesy and I just like I I know I know and but I they are such a comfort for me honestly and they always were like I would stay up reading them all the time. Just listen is probably like still top and um the truth about forever like top top. I mean I I read most of her stuff because I was she was so big when we were she's coming back from a hiatus as well. I was doing some I was doing some research and it seems like in twenty twenty six she's gonna be coming out with something new. So well I mean women are reading now like more now that more than ever now.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

Um as they should.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

Yeah it it was at the point where um 50% of Americans were reading less than two books a year and now the women are reading more it's it's really become yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

Women are like revitalizing like the publishing industry.

Rachael 33:50

When I was yeah when I was researching her um I she I mean I just feel like she was kind of like a staple for young adult reading around our age. I mean there were others obviously yeah but um so I feel like she like hit a target audience. I think the reason I resonated with her growing up is like she talked about hard things in those books. And I would agree with that. So and you didn't see that necessarily in some other YA books back then. No they played the they had more of the safe topics. Yeah. Yeah. So the fact that some of these like death, rape, all of these things like came up in those books but the character was able to overcome it um definitely resonated with me when I was growing up. Are there any like authors during that time?

SPEAKER_01 34:50

Oh I mean I just have my overall favorite author Jane Austen. Oh and all of her feminist views like even back you know in her day and age she was writing strong independent women who didn't necessarily want the traditional married with kids life or you know weren't like my absolute favorite book by her is Pride and Prejudice and um just having um Lizzie just not want to settle you know and find a a man that you know she didn't care about being an old maid like she just wanted to be happy. Whereas everyone else in that was like I'm old and I have to get married before I'm unmarkedable and she was just like fuck it. Um you know and then there was uh yeah I feel like all of her female characters to a degree have some kind of just stick in the middle finger to everyone I love hiding so yeah she's she's on there um blanking who who wrote Little Women Louisa Alcott I think that's her name Louisa May Alcott yeah uh her character I mean she even wrote in that book characters that you know didn't have a traditional path and um just really precedent I mean wasn't is in that movie as well in the newest one and they just really owned each of the girls have like granted some of them were like yeah I need to get married and you know were the girly girls that went in the family and then there's the ones that you know wanted to go off and write a book or have a career and all that. So I resonated with those um storylines as well.

Rachael 36:51

More on the self-help side Brene Brown I've always looked up to her. I actually have her newest book I haven't read it yet.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

What's the newest one called something grounds um you know I buy these books and then I don't read them right away. Uh stri strong ground the lessons of daring leadership the tenacity of paradox and the wisdom of the human spirit is her newest one.

Rachael 37:18

Oh nice though I thought that one if you don't know Mernay she talks about vulnerability and kind of breaking down armor like we all kind of armor up and try to protect ourselves and she talks about how we should be open and not be afraid of shame vulnerability and it kind of started in the workplace mostly um yeah I was gonna say I've read her Dare to lead book that was like one of the first yeah career books I read. Same that was pretty she introduced me to Glendon Doyle and Glendon Doyle is my woman Glennon Doyle is the one who she was married to a man for I think it was 15 years and then walked into a conference and instantly fell in love with Abby Wam Wombeck is that her last name yeah another another soccer player yeah and she was just like what I love a woman what is happening and then she like left her husband and she wrote Untamed and untamed is all about sometimes you have to burn down your life and rebuild it and we're all caged up a lot of times and we need to make sure that we don't stay caged up. I was gonna say that's probably easily what your one of your top five books. I would say it's my top your top five I would um would I like continuously read it again no but do I pull most of my inspir like all of my wisdom from it? Yes. Yeah and you you recommend it to a lot of people yeah yeah that I would say that's like definitely number one self-help book for me.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

Yeah. And there's always um Mel Robbins too I love her podcast. I've only read the Let Them Theory same but she's got a bunch of other stuff too.

Rachael 39:13

Yeah I listened to the audiobook version of Let Them and it was good because she authored she read it yeah okay um yeah so it was real good. Yeah um and then kind of spinning I mean do you have any other authors on your list? Um I put Emily Nagowski she wrote Come as you are which talks about how men and women differ on like their breaks and accelerators with sex and how like sex is kind of like this taboo subject like people are afraid to talk about it. But it uses science to kind of understand the human body and how we can actually just understand our bodies more and that way we can have better sex.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

Yeah it's been on my list her read I haven't read it.

Rachael 40:01

She also has the other book called um burnout I think it's called burnout um where she talks about I have not finished reading it but it's all about so um when you get burnt out like you need to be able there's like a cycle you know and so like if you don't get out of the cycle you're gonna get burnt out and so she gives you recommendations on like how to break the cycle. So honestly I've had that one on my shelf for a while and I still haven't read it but I feel like I'm in we both need it right now.

Music Icons And Evolving Beliefs

SPEAKER_01 40:36

Yeah I feel like we're both experiencing that right now okay yeah I'll have to look into that one. I also put um Hayley Williams compared kind of on the music realm. I love that um she's you know very much I'm gonna do we're gonna do our own thing we don't care what the status quo is we don't care what other bands are doing we're gonna do it the way we want.

Rachael 41:03

Yeah and it's always worked for them too. Yeah like there's been some Rocky times but they come out stronger because of it.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

Yeah and I feel like I mean she did get a lot of criticism because there's some one song where you know once a whore you're nothing you know like she referenced and then she wouldn't sing it for like 10 years. Yeah. Because she's like well I'm not gonna call another girl whore. And she actually so when I went to when we were the very first when we were young festival back in 22 that was the first time they played that song and I actually don't think she said it but she held the mic out to the crowd and we all yelled at it and everything. Um I mean I mean there were times she wouldn't play it yeah at all in her shows which everyone was mad. Yeah. You know I mean that's what they're known for. That's one of their songs. Like yeah maybe it didn't age well with your beliefs and everything but I mean It's your history, like it's part of your story though.

unknown 42:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

It's not like she's actively going around calling a bunch of women whore. But I I get her mentality of it too but like I just like how they've she was a punk band with a lead female lead singer with pipes on her. And you know I mean they had a lot of trials and tribulations of just getting booked because it was a female singer in that industry in that genre at the time.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:31

So yeah she was on my list.

Rachael 42:32

And she does some good um advocacy work and things like that. Even seeing Lindsay Sterling I feel like I had more um like emotional ties to her after seeing her in her shows. She's just I know like religiously and you know I I feel like her and I don't necessarily align that on that perspective but she's in a pretty didn't she grow up Mormon?

SPEAKER_01 42:59

She is still she's she's still Mormon. She's still Mormon. She's just not as uh extreme.

Rachael 43:06

Yeah yeah she's yeah I mean she doesn't drink or anything like that but she also is more open to other aspects of it that like the more traditional yeah the part with the first show that we saw um with her where she was talking about the water molecules oh yeah I'm like man she got me with that one like sure you weren't crying I was I was like what is happening but basically um you know they've done research that if you give water molecules bad you know angry music or talk you know angry to water molecules they'll not do well but then if you say positive things to it then it it does well. So it it kind of proved that brain chemistry can change based on the types of information that you tell yourself and the types of music you surround yourself with the messaging in your life.

SPEAKER_01 43:59

And it ties back because we're mainly water just to catch off that thought.

Rachael 44:05

Because we're 70% water right 70% or is it more than that?

SPEAKER_01 44:09

I thought it was 80 but you might be right. 71% of the world is water um oh okay so different parts of the body okay so on average 75 to 80 but here's an interesting thing I didn't know about um your age impact So babies have seventy-five to seventy-eight percent water, whereas the average male adult male is sixty to sixty-five percent, and women are only fifty to sixty percent.

Rachael 44:47

Ah, interesting.

SPEAKER_02 44:50

Because of our uh body composition, lean versus fat tissue. Interesting. Yeah. So that was that's interesting.

Rachael 45:03

I didn't I wonder if that's why like men can hear more negative things and be fine, whereas women were like, no what?

SPEAKER_01 45:10

No, there's that's a whole lot of psychological issue. It's a brain thing. But the brain and the heart actually have the most water. Nope, sorry, lungs do. 83% water, weirdly enough. But if you inhale water, you'll die.

Food Wellness And Learning Through Podcasts

Rachael 45:30

The body's a funny thing. This is not um like book book, but um I became a fan of I'm totally gonna butcher her name. Uh can't wait for the Roddy Duvulka Divolkia. She's Jay Shetty's wife. That's how I came to know who she was. Roddy. And she came out with a cookbook called Joyful, and she does more like holistic vegetarian meals. But she talks about her experience with like her family and how food has really been like a tradition in her family, and that um like treating your body well just kind of enhances your whole life kind of thing. So I became a fan of her because of her cookbook, and then now I listen to our podcast. Her podcast is called A Really Good Cry. And she um but she d she has some good guests on there as well. Um so she's good. No, I don't. But I learned about cool people through her podcast. Like I learned about um Glucose Goddess through her. Um who's like the woman scientist who researches how food the way you eat food and the order in which you food eat food impacts your glucose levels, which is very interesting.

SPEAKER_02 46:53

I think her name's Jess. Yeah, I remember that whole thing after you went down that rabbit hole.

Dance Freedom And Body Confidence

Rachael 47:04

I like to experiment. Me too, just in different ways. Okay, this is do you have other authors that were on your list? Honestly, no. Okay. Cause I was gonna sidestep and say, like, my main woman who I followed for many years and I really look up to is Julianne Huff. Oh, yeah, because you were a dancer. Yeah. Yeah. So, and so she's a dancer, she's an actress. She was married to a hockey player years ago. Yep. And then she was like, Yeah, this isn't this isn't for me. I also think she was like questioning her sexuality slightly. Um, and I'm like, damn girl, you're I was a pretty fine man. And like you had like a quote unquote perfect life, and you just went off and did your thing. And then she created, um, I mean, she's been on Dancing with the Stars forever, but she also does um Kynergy, I think it that's what it's called. It's like her own dance thing, like kind of like Zumba, it's like Kinergy. And so like you take the classes and I've taken some and it's very different. It kind of just allows you to like flail your limbs in whatever direction you want to go, and like a lot of like grunting. Oh it's pretty wild, and I'm just like I felt very uncomfortable doing it, but then afterwards I was like, wow, I feel like so free now because I just let loose and like didn't give a shit about what dance move that I was doing. I was just kind of flailing. Whatever you like, whatever whatever you thought you was. Yeah, okay. And they kind of guide you, like they have them, but then they're just like, you know, also freestyle for a little bit and just do your own thing, and then you're like I was very anxious doing it, but worth an experience or two for sure.

SPEAKER_01 48:58

Yeah, I didn't know she did all that.

Rachael 48:59

Yeah. I'm like dancing with the stars fan, but outside. See, and that's interesting because I still have never watched Dancing with the Stars. Maybe this next season.

SPEAKER_01 49:09

Listen. I just got started the last couple of years. It was actually two seasons ago because half the I'm an Olympic nerd, like mini game. And it was right after the summer Olympics. And so there was oh, you know what? I another athlete, Alona Mar, the female rugby player. Yeah. She's I follow all of her stuff, and her and her sisters have a podcast now, but she was on there, and then the pummel horse, Steven, um, he won the like men's gymnast gold for the pummel horse, like almost got like a near perfect score, like unheard of like US glasses, yes. Supermen, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and then there was an ex-patriots football player on there, and so they had this just like stacked roster for once. A lot of times I feel like it's just super washed up. Yeah. Um, and I started watching it to see all of them do well. And then I got attached to all the dancers, like the pro dancers, and now I'm just I watch it. I watch this last one, and I feel like TikTok also helped me get attached to it because um they all like post super funny videos throughout the week when they're rehearsing and um they do like a behind the scenes live stream while the live stream on TV's going and all that too. But yeah, she's Alona Mar is awesome and she's another I don't give a fuck. Like I'm gonna be in Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, but she gets I mean, she's a rugby player, so she doesn't have a super feminine build. Um, but I mean still rocks it, but she gets so much hate from all these insecure men about how she's built like a man. And I'm just like shut the fuck up. Yeah. So I just need her to I really want her to get with like a really like a linebacker from the NFL or a big hockey player, 'cause I mean she's tall and she's she's I mean, broad, she's built, so I feel like she needs like a a a bigger man just to be able to, you know, pick her up and swing her around. Yeah. That way she doesn't have to diminish herself to fit. Yeah. But she's awesome. I love her messaging and the impact she's made again with women in sport girls in sports and just I mean, I've always been a tall, bigger girl. Um and so it would have been nice to have her messaging back then when everyone wanted to be these skinny mini, like you know, petite things. Yeah, that didn't fit that well.

Rachael 51:47

But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:51

We made it through my list. Those are some good ones.

Where To Find More Women’s Stories

SPEAKER_01 51:57

But yeah, I think we really I mean we covered pop culture and old old school scientists, and you know, I mean I think there's a good bandwidth of people. Yeah.

Rachael 52:08

I think there are a lot of re like use your resources, you know, do some, you know, if you know a couple of names, do some research on them, and then that kind of leads you to other things as well.

SPEAKER_01 52:19

So I know check out your nonfiction sections at the bookstore and library. Yeah. So I know um Barnes and Noble, I was in there a couple days ago, and usually the library, they'll do like special tables or end caps with you know what's kind of going on in the world. So there's gonna be, you know, women's history displays and things like that. So check those out. Yeah. Pick 'em up. See names that are interest. Um I mean, if you're like a World War II buff, there's like all these women that were like spies and spying on the Nazis and France and you know, all this stuff. I love those books too. Um so I mean you can find strong strong influential women just about anywhere. You just gotta dig a little harder sometimes.

Rachael 53:09

Yeah. And don't be afraid to go outside the traditional ones that you hear about.

SPEAKER_01 53:14

Oh yeah. But you can definitely start with those. And then as you learn more, you can you expand.

Rachael 53:21

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:24

We make up half the population, so you know, you should and literally you exist because of us.

Rachael 53:30

So you're welcome. Not us exactly, but women. You exist because of women. You're welcome. If you needed a better case to say we're the better sex, you got it. Just kidding. We love you men. We're grateful that you also support us.

SPEAKER_01 53:48

I mean, yeah, I mean, you gotta tango with them to they just don't have to put in all the hard work. Or pop out the that's part of the hard work. All the hard work. They have about 60 seconds of work.

Rachael 54:04

And then and we appreciate you for that. Always.

SPEAKER_01 54:11

I mean, if it went a little longer than 60 seconds, I'd probably appreciate it more. That's true.

Gratitude And Sign-Off

Rachael 54:15

There's a balance. There's a balance. Okay. Well, thanks everybody for listening. Happy Women's History Month to all of the women out there. Thanks to the men who support us and who have gotten women to be known and be out there in the world. We appreciate you all. So until next time, stay bold, stay in power.

SPEAKER_02 54:35

Girl gang out.