Ep. 1 Paleolithic Sexism & Finding the Wrong Kind of Dead Body

By |

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | TuneIn | RSS

In this first episode of My Favorite Feminists, best friends Megan & Milena cover palaeontologist Mary Anning and Stone Age cave art sexism

<>

Who sold seashells by the seashore?

Painting of Annings by B. J. Donne in 1847; done after her death. She is seen here with her dog who would sometimes be by her side during her excursions. Sadly because of this, the poor pup passed during a landslide while they were out looking for fossils.

…And also found them, unearthed them, and essentially gave a thorough look into the the lives of dinosaurs? Her name was Mary. Mary Anning. Please remember that the next time someone asks you to say that one tongue twister. From digging up complete skeletons all the way to dissecting dinosaur poo, this girl knew what was up. Follow us to the 1800s to see which lady was strong enough to brave the dangerous coast of Lyme Regis and help lift the veil off of the Jurassic and Mesozoic periods

Our Ichthyosaur: The Temnodontosaurus platyodon found by Anning and her brother
The plesiosaurus: A drawing of the complete Plesiosaurus microcephalus found by Mary Anning
The stained glass dedicated to Anning by the Geological Society after her death. It was placed in St Michael’s Parish in Lyme by the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Geological Society of London. The church they chose was Anning’s parish when she was alive

Paleolithic Sexism and the slight masculine bias in science. And by science we mean everything

Venus of Willendorf: At 4.74 inches high Ms. Willendorf is made of limestone, a material not found in the area she was discovered in 1908

So sure, I could use these show notes to highlight the systematic imbalance of female representation within the arts and their over looked and often denied contributions to the arts, thus reinforcing the importance of feminist artists receiving the same exposure men have established & enjoyed for centuries (at the expense of women) – but then why even have a podcast? Instead enjoy some visuals.*

Gargas cave hand stencils: Worse game of ‘how many fingers am I holding up?’
Lascaux Grotto: Not, in fact, sponsored by La Croix, but rather is an outstanding example Upper Paleolithic cave art & UNESCO world heritage site
Cave of Nerija: Spain holds the honor of housing possibly the oldest known work of art in human history – dating back 42000 years ago, possibly made by Neanderthals
While totally dismissed in the Renaissance, Picasso (left) looked at cave art (right) and was like abstraction? Unadorned drawing? Superimposition and nonrepresentational color? Yes please!
 
I’ll just leave this here….

Special thanks to Travis Southard (Digital Content Creator – video, photo, editor, writer & composer) who helped with audio, you can find him at Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr & Instagram. Thanks Travis!

Music by EeL

*Wild roaming ancient herds of hyenas refused to be photographed for this content on the grounds we disparaged their ‘more than adequate’ timeshare keeping abilities