Season 1 · Episode 13
Bathsheba Sherman: The Conjuring of a Witch
In The Conjuring, Bathsheba Sherman is a Satanist who sacrificed her baby and cursed the land before hanging herself. The real Bathsheba was a Rhode Island farm wife…
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Season 1 · Episode 12
Putting the Witch Label on Trial - Part 1: Making of a Witch
"All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women insatiable." A Dominican inquisitor wrote that in 1486, and over the next three centuries, tens of thousands of…
Season 1 · Episode 11
Bridget Bishop: "I know not what a witch is"
"How do you know then that you are not a witch?" Bridget Bishop answered that she didn't know what a witch was, and seven weeks later she was…
Season 1 · Episode 10
Rebecca Nurse: "Innocent as the Child Unborn"
In June 1692, a Salem jury found 71-year-old Rebecca Nurse not guilty of witchcraft. The court refused to accept it, and three weeks later she was hanged. In…
Season 1 · Episode 9
Tituba: "The Devil Came to Me"
"I have done nothing." That's the first thing the 1692 court record says Tituba told the magistrates. By the end of the day, she'd confessed to meeting the…
Season 1 · Episode 8
Stevie Nicks: "I'm not a witch. Get a life!"
It's SPOOKY Season! ...Aaaaand I'm sick, so pardon my nasal voice. This is the first of our Spooky Season Witch episodes, and I am starting with an ICON.…
Season 1 · Episode 7
The Trap of Mammy, Jezebel, and Sapphire
The fastest way to misunderstand a Black woman is to reach for a familiar label. We start with the one Michelle Obama names so plainly: how easily Black…
Season 1 · Episode 6
Hattie McDaniel: Not Your Mammy
"I have never apologized for the roles I play." Hattie McDaniel wrote that in 1947, seven years after becoming the first Black person to win an Academy Award,…
Season 1 · Episode 5
The Dragon Lady, The Lotus Blossom, and the Asian Woman
Lucy Liu once said she was afraid people would run from her on the street because of a character she played. The label that followed her home is…
Season 1 · Episode 4
Anna May Wong: A Thousand Deaths
"When I die, my epitaph should be: I died a thousand deaths." Anna May Wong was Hollywood's first Chinese American star, and the industry kept killing her off.…
Season 1 · Episode 3
Dumb or Deadly? Examining the Dumb Blonde and the Femme Fatale
"I know I'm not dumb and I know I'm not blonde." Dolly Parton's joke is funny, but the label behind it has been following women for centuries. In…
Season 1 · Episode 1
"Are Women Human?"
Content note: this episode discusses slurs, sexual shaming, racism, and harassment. Are women human? Obviously. So why do we have so many words that turn women into categories:…
Season 1 · Episode 2
Marilyn Monroe: "You have to be smart to play dumb"
"I've often been asked, does it bother you when someone refers to you as a dumb blonde? It never has. You see, I've always known I wasn't." Marilyn…
Trailer
TRAILER: Who Wins When A Woman Becomes A Slur?
Trailer for the podcast Witches, Bitches, and Sluts. A podcast that investigates when women are labeled and why. Join the conversation on Instagram @the.wbs.pod, or share your story…