BitchStory - Stories of badass women that history "forgot"

Kelly McClain and Smarty Pants Lisa
  • 4.7 (12)
  • History
  • Updated Biweekly

Welcome to Bitchstory! We are uncovering history's forgotten heroines and badasses. Most of the women covered on this show have been left out of the history books for reasons you can guess. Some are names you know, some are women that history has completely snubbed. We are revising history to be fun, inclusive, entertaining, and of course, feminist as f*ck! Email us at "Heybitches@bitchstory.net". Always check the show notes for our sources and other important information.

  1. Jul 27

    Ep 113 - Witchstory- How to Kill a Witch

    How do you kill a witch? First, you create one. In this episode, we speak with Claire Mitchell KC and Zoe Venditozzi, authors of ‘How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy’s Guide to Silencing Women’ and founders of the Witches of Scotland campaign. Together, they explore the largely forgotten history of Scotland’s witch trials, the legal and cultural machinery that turned ordinary women into dangerous enemies, and the campaign that helped secure a formal apology from the Scottish government for those accused and executed under Scotland’s witchcraft laws. The conversation also asks a deeply uncomfortable question: are witch hunts really a thing of the past? From rumor and scapegoating to public humiliation and institutional persecution, Claire and Zoe reveal how the old blueprint for silencing “quarrelsome” women still appears in modern life—and how recognizing the pattern may help us resist it. History, misogyny, justice, memorialization…and the unsettling realization that Kelly’s cats, candles, essential oils, and refusal to shut up would probably have gotten her arrested before breakfast. Check their website for the podcast, the official tartan, contact info, and all kinds of info: https://www.witchesofscotland.com/ THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com PATREON: Patreon.com/Bitchscopes INSTAGRAM: @bitchstory.pod THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net CONTRIBUTE: We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory

  2. Jul 19

    Ep 112 - Disability Pride Tribute (plus - the surprising tie to the Black Panthers)

    They Made Us Invisible. We Made History. In 1881, the city of Chicago made it illegal to be visibly disabled in public. The fine was one dollar per offense — roughly thirty dollars today — for the crime of existing where someone could see you. Those laws stayed on the books in American cities until 1974. This Disability Pride Month, K and L look at four women the history books “forgot” Plus: the Black Panther who saved the longest nonviolent federal building occupation in U.S. history, the Supreme Court ruling that has never been overturned, and why the people who fought the hardest are the ones you've never heard of. The erasure is part of the system. Not anymore. 🎧 We are on all major platforms- Listen wherever you get your podcasts We made the “Top 80 Badass Female Podcasts”! We are number 30, in fact! Woot woot! Thank you listeners! Check out the list here THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com PATREON: Patreon.com/Bitchscopes INSTAGRAM: @bitchstory.pod @apothe.kelly @kellymcbitch THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory

  3. Jun 11

    Ep 111 - Queer in Code - this fascinating life of Anne Lister

    Happy Pride Month! On this episode of Bitchstory, we’re spending time with Anne Lister — a Queer Englishwoman of the 1800s. She is the woman behind a wild code that she used her entire life, to document every detail of her life. She was many things, a wife, the landowner, the original “Gentleman Jack” (which would have been considered a slur). We get into the diaries, the relationships, the texture of her daily life, and what it meant to live as fully and unapologetically as she did in Regency-era England. We have thoughts. We have feelings. We have theories. We have a lot of gratitude for Helena Whitbread, who gave us this gift by deciding the diaries. We even looked at Anne’s astrology, and to say “heavy Aries” is an understatement! Whoa! Come for the history. Stay for the part where we lose our minds a little bit! 🎧 We are on all major platforms- Listen wherever you get your podcasts We made the “Top 80 Badass Female Podcasts”! We are number 30, in fact! Woot woot! Thank you listeners! Check out the list here THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com PATREON: Patreon.com/Bitchscopes INSTAGRAM: @bitchstory.pod @apothe.kelly @kellymcbitch THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory

  4. May 17

    Ep 110- Crimes of Fashion

    You know the perfume. You don’t know the woman. By the end of this episode you’re going to be furious that the only thing most people associate with her name is a bottle on a department store counter. We don’t usually think about fashion and war crimes at the same time. Today’s episode forces us to. This story is about 2 MAJOR fashion houses and the very different roles they played in Nazi occupation in Europe. Trigger warnings apply. Please listen with care as this episode discusses concentration camps, rape, and torture (nothing detailed). I would call this episode adult content only. 🎧 We are on all major platforms- Listen wherever you get your podcasts, THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com PATREON: Patreon.com/Bitchscopes INSTAGRAM: @bitchstory.pod @apothe.kelly @kellymcbitch THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory THANKS FOR LISTENING! We 🩷you!

  5. Apr 27

    Ep 109 -The Dorothy Kilgallen mystery/conspiracy

    This week we have a true crime story for you. I don’t want to give away too much here in the notes. But Dorothy Kilgallen was the Oprah or Barbara Walters of her time (the 40s, 50s & 60s)…and most of us have never heard of her. She was erased. Why? Dun-dun-dun… This story is wild! 🎧 We are on all major platforms- Listen wherever you get your podcasts, THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com PATREON: Patreon.com/Bitchscopes INSTAGRAM: @bitchstory.pod @apothe.kelly @kellymcbitch THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory THANKS FOR LISTENING! We 🩷you!

  6. Mar 9

    Ep 108 - Inventions by Black Women

    This week on Bitchstory, Kelly and Lisa uncover the Black women who invented parts of everyday life — and then got ignored for it. From laundry tech and menstrual products to home security systems and space-saving furniture, these innovators made modern life easier while battling racism, sexism, and a patent system that rarely worked in their favor. Some lost their fortunes, some had their inventions rejected, and one even signed her patent with an X. Turns out the world we live in was built by women whose names most of us never learned. 🎧 We are on all major platforms- Listen wherever you get your podcasts, THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com INSTAGRAM: @bitchstory.pod @apothe.kelly @kellymcbitch THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net BITCHSCOPES: Patreon.com/bitchscopes CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory THANKS FOR LISTENING! We 🩷you!

  7. Feb 19

    Ep 107 - Lady Librarians Saving Civilization

    During the 19-teens and through the Great Depression, women and particularly black women were holding together literacy in society with their bloody fingertips and blistered feet. In this episode we discuss the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky, and the black librarians of the Harlem Renaissance. Literacy is power, guys. And Black history is American history. And women’s history is still sadly overlooked, which is why we do this podcast! Kelly’s creative projects of the moment: Goddess justice arc 2026 calendar Well behaved women keychains 🎧 We are on all major platforms- Listen wherever you get your podcasts, THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net BITCHSCOPES: Patreon.com/bitchscopes CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory THANKS FOR LISTENING! We 🩷you!

  8. Feb 4

    Ep 106 - GPS Queen - Dr. Gladys West

    Dr. Gladys West is the mathematical genius whose work helped create the GPS you literally use to find coffee, Target, and your emotional support parking spot. Her groundbreaking satellite modeling helped map the Earth with wild precision — and, shockingly, she didn’t get the credit she deserved for decades. This Black History Month, we’re celebrating the Black women who built the future while the world was busy ignoring them. Goddess justice arc 2026 calendar Well behaved women keychains 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts. THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net BITCHSCOPES: Patreon.com/bitchstory CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory

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4.7
out of 5
12 Ratings

About

Welcome to Bitchstory! We are uncovering history's forgotten heroines and badasses. Most of the women covered on this show have been left out of the history books for reasons you can guess. Some are names you know, some are women that history has completely snubbed. We are revising history to be fun, inclusive, entertaining, and of course, feminist as f*ck! Email us at "Heybitches@bitchstory.net". Always check the show notes for our sources and other important information.

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