Selling Slashers to Teen Girls
The heroines of 1970s and 80s teen horror movies were traditionally feminine, tough, and sexually confident.
Industrial London’s Maternal Child Abductors
In industrial-era England, children took on new value in family life. Around this time, they started to be stolen more often, too.
Jane Fonda Changed Fitness Forever
Jane Fonda's workout videos cracked open the idea of who exercise was for, but only to an extent.
How Colonialism Shaped Body Shaming
When did heaviness and curviness in women become connected with the idea of "savagery"? It has a lot to do with 19th-century imperialist world views.
Remaking Betty Boop in the Image of a Housewife
Betty Boop was literally designed to be a bombshell, but around 1935, her creators decided to change her appearance.
Co-Living, the Hot New Trend of 1898
Chicago's "Eleanor Clubs" were designed to give young, working women affordable and congenial places to live.
When Hortense Powdermaker Studied Hollywood
This anthropologist's research on contemporary American society probes the tensions between business and art in the film world.
Who Really Wrote The G-String Murders?
Gypsy Rose Lee, the most famous burlesque star of the 1940s, wrote a series of letters published by Simon & Schuster that may prove her authorship.
The Origins of Women’s Soccer
The British Ladies Football Club held their first match at Alexandra Park in Crouch End, London in 1895.
Sor Juana, Founding Mother of Mexican Literature
How a 17th-century nun wrote poetry, dramas, and comedies that took on the inequities and double standards women faced in society.