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In this episode, Natalia, Niki, and Neil debate recent claims that the Left is destroying civility in politics, the LGBTQ+ history of American gym culture, and a half-century of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Support Past Present on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pastpresentpodcast Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: When White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant by its owner, many decried the incident as evidence of a decline in civility. Natalia cited historian William Chafe’s book Civilities and Civil Rights. At Vox, Niki wrote about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s own history of being called “uncivil.” An Indianapolis CrossFit location recently canceled a workout intended to celebrate Pride Month, and backlash was swift. Natalia wrote about the history of LGBTQ+ culture and American gyms for Slate and also cited historian David K. Johnson’s Journal of Social History article on male physique magazines. She talked more about the issue recently on the All About Fitness with Pete McCall Neil noted recent Past Present episodes on the “gayborhood” and the “twink” were relevant to this segment’s discussion. A new documentary takes a retrospective look at Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fifty years after its release. Natalia cited Aisha Harris’ review in Slate. In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History: Natalia talked about Brooke Hauser’s biography of Helen Gurley Brown, Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman. Neil discussed the life and legacy of Koko the Gorilla, who recently died at 46. Niki recommended Anne Ewbank’s Atlas Obscura article, “The Tragic Roots of America’s Favorite Cherry.”
Sex and The Single Girl: The original modern woman discussed as Maria Reitan speaks with Brooke Hauser, the Author of Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman. A longtime journalist, she has written for Allure (where she was also a Contributing Editor), Glamour, Marie Claire, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications.Her first book, The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens, won the American Library Association's 2012 Alex Award. People selected The New Kids as one of its “Great Reads,” Parade chose it as a “Parade Pick,” and the New York Post called it “required reading.” Says The New York Times: “Ms. Hauser's book is a refreshing reminder of the hurdles newcomers to this country still face and how many defy the odds to overcome them.”
“Women's history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women's lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women's lives (Kate Bolick's Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown's experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown's approach made many in the women's movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man's world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it's a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
“Women’s history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women’s lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women’s lives (Kate Bolick’s Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown’s experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown’s approach made many in the women’s movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man’s world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it’s a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
“Women’s history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women’s lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women’s lives (Kate Bolick’s Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown’s experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown’s approach made many in the women’s movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man’s world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it’s a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
“Women’s history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women’s lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women’s lives (Kate Bolick’s Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown’s experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown’s approach made many in the women’s movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man’s world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it’s a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
“Women’s history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women’s lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women’s lives (Kate Bolick’s Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown’s experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown’s approach made many in the women’s movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man’s world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it’s a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
“Women’s history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women’s lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women’s lives (Kate Bolick’s Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown’s experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown’s approach made many in the women’s movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man’s world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it’s a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
“Women’s history, if they had any, consisted in their being beautiful enough to become events in male lives,” the feminist academic Carolyn R. Heilbrun noted in a series of 1997 lectures, suggesting the need for new narratives and new ways of writing women’s lives. Brooke Hauser‘s Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman is an exciting new entry into group of books that have emerged in the last few years to offer provocative and innovative biographical readings of women’s lives (Kate Bolick’s Spinster, for example). In Enter Helen, Hauser contextualizes Helen Gurley Brown’s experience, demonstrating how the times in which she lived affected her and she, in turn, affected them. In many ways a misfit, Gurley Brown’s approach made many in the women’s movement uneasy. Rather than arguing for the overthrow of the patriarchy, she advocated that women use everything at their disposal to make it in a man’s world. Advice that might ring a little retro, it was nonetheless well intentioned. And, in a long career devoted to the advancement of women, Gurley Brown worked tirelessly to make visible narratives that might otherwise have remained unavailable to her readers. She did not think she was beautiful and her life was far more than an event in the life of a man. It was the main event, and it’s a life whose impact continues to be felt to this day- particularly in the magazine and advertising industries but also in the lives of single women discovering and re-discovering her classic book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices